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Astronomy Picture of the Day - A Comet and a Crab
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 22 Oct, 2021 | Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Mtanous

Posted on 10/22/2021 3:10:48 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: This pretty field of view spans over 2 degrees or 4 full moons on the sky, filled with stars toward the constellation Taurus, the Bull. Above and right of center in the frame you can spot the faint fuzzy reddish appearance of Messier 1 (M1), also known as the Crab Nebula. M1 is the first object in 18th century comet hunter Charles Messier's famous catalog of things which are definitely not comets. Made from image data captured this October 11, there is a comet in the picture though. Below center and left lies the faint greenish coma and dusty tail of periodic comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, also known as Rosetta's comet. In the 21st century, it became the final resting place of robots from planet Earth. Rosetta's comet is now returning to the inner solar system, sweeping toward its next perihelion or closest approach to the Sun, on November 2. Too faint to be seen by eye alone, the comet's next perigee or closest approach to Earth will be November 12.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 10/22/2021 3:10:48 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 10/22/2021 3:11:07 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; America_Right; AZ .44 MAG; BBB333; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔


3 posted on 10/22/2021 3:11:51 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

In head to head combat, my money is on the Comet.

But this one missed.


4 posted on 10/22/2021 3:17:49 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: MtnClimber

On the right hand side, why are all the objects surrounding the big blue object also blue.

Are they reflecting?
A strange blue world corner of the universe. Da Ba Dee


5 posted on 10/22/2021 3:20:21 PM PDT by DannyTN
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