Posted on 04/05/2013 3:58:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: It looks like a double comet, but Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is just offering skygazers a Messier moment. Outward bound and fading in this starry scene, the well-photographed comet is remarkably similar in brightness to M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Tracking through northern skies just below the galaxy, the comet was captured as local midnight approached on April 3. Both comet and galaxy were visible to the eye and are immersed in the faint glow of northern lights as our own Milky Way galaxy arcs over a snowy field near Tänndalen, Sweden. Double star cluster h and chi Persei can be spotted along the Milky Way's arc high above the comet/galaxy pair. Follow the arc to bright Deneb, alpha star of the constellation Cygnus, at the right edge of the frame.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN)]
Oh well, another terrestrial shot.
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You don’t see anywhere near this many stars at night, so I can’t even recognize Cassiopeia, but the double cluster appears to be barely-noticeable to the upper-right of the tree limbs. It’s much more spectacular in reality, with a little optical help.
Wow... I bet that person feels very small in comparison to the stars! Beautiful, Sunky!
Winter is coming...
It’s funny how constellations disappear with these super sensitive digital cameras. This photo must be 60 seconds at around F1.4 and a quick flashlight blip. Andromeda by itself looks like another comet.
One of the best photos you’ve ever put up, Sunken Civ, really lovely.
I never did see the PanSTARR comet, even though we looked for it for several days from atop a mountain behind our house — I think there was too much ambient light from the city. Really disappointing, but the photos I’ve seen are beautiful.
I’d think it would be near impossible to have a placid body of water like that with a huge planet and moon that close by... =8-0
It takes large global bodies of water to produce tides. After all, even the great lakes don’t have tides. For all intensive purposes, tides in the earth’s oceans are really just a continuously rolling wave.
What a blessing it is to have APOD in my day! Many thanks!
You Got That Right!!!
Thanks!
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