Posted on 01/28/2023 12:19:31 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: Comet-like plumes are blowing over the volcanic peaks of Mount Etna in this wintry mountain-and-skyscape from planet Earth. The stacked and blended combination of individual exposures recorded during the cold night of January 23, also capture naked-eye Comet ZTF just above Etna's snowy slopes. Of course the effect of increasing sunlight on the comet's nucleus and the solar wind are responsible for the comet's greenish coma and broad dusty tail. This weekend Comet ZTF is dashing across northern skies between north star Polaris and the Big Dipper. From a dark site you can only just spot it as a fuzzy patch though. That's still an impressive achievement if you consider you are gazing at a visitor from the distant Oort cloud with your own eyes. But binoculars or a small telescope will make for an even more enjoyable view of this Comet ZTF in the coming days.
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.
Nice!
I’ve been to the top (craters edge) of Etna. The surrounding area seriously looks like a lunar landscape and other-worldly already.
Great photo.
Reminiscent of Mt. Saint Helens.
The wife and I tried to see Mt Saint Helens. We drove in on a road up to it. When we started, it was cloudy. Then it started raining. Then the rain turned to ice. We continued on. The ice turned to snow. Then it turned into BIG snow. We passed a sign that said something along the lines of...”Chains or snow tires recommended beyond this point”. We turned the rental car around and went back to I-5. The weather change occurred in probably 5-6 minutes! Never seen weather change that fast.
What year was that? I climbed the north side in the summer of ‘85.
Looks really windy up there.
I climbed St. Helens in 1989..one step up...slide back 2...still have the boots with the silica damage. Peering over the edge was fun.
I want to say five years ago or so. Our daughter was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and we were visiting (Lakeland). We did a round-robin trip south, down to Portland, and then east along the Columbia River as far as Pendleton, then back up and over to Lakeland. We took the side trip to Mt St Helens on the way down to Portland. LOL...we were a little too old to do any climbing...just wanted to drive up and take a look.
I still haven’t directly seen it yet. Hopefully this next week the skies will clear enough.
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