Posted on 12/25/2021 1:51:30 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: The tail of a comet streams across this three degree wide telescopic field of view captured under dark Namibian skies on December 21. In outburst only a few days ago and just reaching naked eye visibility Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) is this year's brightest comet. Binoculars will make the diffuse comet easier to spot though, close to the western horizon after sunset. Details revealed in the sharp image show the comet's coma with a greenish tinge, and follow the interaction of the comet's ion tail with magnetic fields in the solar wind. After passing closest to Earth on December 12 and Venus on December 18, Comet Leonard is heading toward perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun on January 3rd. Appearing in late December's beautiful evening skies Comet Leonard has also become known as 2021's Christmas Comet.
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.
That’s probably the best comet pic I’ve ever seen.
Great image. Thanks for posting it!
Awesome image! Leo appears to be in one big hurry.
For those that may not no this,
The tail of a Comet is always perpendicular with the Sun.
Meaning that some comets can actually be traveling in the same direction as their tail.
Just a quick note...
Thanks for the Post. I was going to make it the Screen Background Pic so I went to Right Click with the Mouse and saw the option to “Create QR Code for this Image. So I tried it and POOF!!! right there on the Screen is the QRC. I scanned it and up comes Your Picture. (using BRAVE Version 1.33.106 Chromium: 96.0.4664.110 (Official Build) (64-bit))
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