Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Comets Lemmon and PanSTARRS Peaking

NASA ^ | March 05, 2013 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Two impressive comets will both reach their peak brightness during the next two weeks. Taking advantage of a rare imaging opportunity, both of these comets were captured in the sky together last week over the Atacama desert in South America. Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon), visible on the upper left of the above image, is sporting a long tail dominated by glowing green ions. Comet C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS), visible near the horizon on the lower right, is showing a bright tail dominated by dust reflecting sunlight. The tails of both comets point approximately toward the recently set Sun. Comet Lemmon will be just barely visible to the unaided eye before sunset in southern skies for the next week, and then best viewed with binoculars as it fades and moves slowly north. Comet PanSTARRS, however, will remain visible in southern skies for only a few more days, after which it will remain bright enough to be locatable with the unaided eye as it moves into northern skies. To find the giant melting snowball PanSTARRS, sky enthusiasts should look toward the western horizon just after sunset. Deep sky observers are also monitoring the brightening of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), which may become one of the brightest objects in the entire night sky toward the end of 2013.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (ESO)]

[SunkenCiv]

A terrestrial shot in part, but pretty cool.

Expanding Gallery: Bright Comets of 2013

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[houeto]

A terrestrial shot in part, but pretty cool.

Way cool. Thanks for the ping SunkenCiv.

[BenLurkin]

Very nice!

[logitech]

Thanks Sunk. That’s my new springtime desktop pic.

[gonzo]

Thanks, SunkenCiv! .............................................................................................. FRegards

[TheOldLady]

I had never seen two comets at the same time until the APOD published this picture.

There are not too many “firsts” at my age anymore, but this one is delightful.

Thank you, Mr. Civilizations.

[fnord]

“The tails of both comets point approximately toward the recently set Sun”

huh?

anyway, thanks for posting this every day

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Berlin_Freeper!

Comet PanSTARRS -- The Movie: On the evening of March 11, 2013, Comet PanSTARRS was captured in a time lapse sequence as it set over the Dos Cabezas Mountains.