Three Planets and a Comet

Discover the universe! Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by an astronomer.

December 23, 2021.
See the explanation. Clicking on the picture will bring you to the download page.
The highest resolution version is available.

There are three planets and a comet.
Tunc Tezel (TWAN) has an image credit.

Are you still looking for the perfect holiday gift for an astronomer? The Solar System may have done your shopping if your night sky is dark and horizon clear. They can see planets and a comet after sunset. Venus is the most visible star in the evening sky from the village of Kirazli, Turkey. Look left and up to see the moon. Jupiter is the Solar System's ruling gas giant. This year's surprise visitor to the inner Solar System is near the horizon as well. The comet forms a triangle with planets Venus and Saturn in this view. A nice pair of binoculars is always a good idea as the comet is visible to the untrained eye.

There are submissions to APOD about planetary alignment.
The picture is in space.

Robert Nemiroff is an author and Jerry Bonnell is an editor.
Phillip Newman has specific rights.
NASA has a privacy policy on the internet.
There is a service at NASA.
& Michigan Tech. U.

Page 2

Discover the universe! Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by an astronomer.

December 24 of 2021.
See the explanation. Clicking on the picture will bring you to the download page.
The highest resolution version is available.

The Crab Nebula is M1.
Michael Sherick has the rights to the image.

The Crab Nebula is the first object on the list of things that are not comets. The Crab is a remnant from the death explosion of a massive star, which was witnessed in the year 1054. The telescopic view combines broadband color data with narrowband data that tracks emission from ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms to explore the tangled filaments within the still expanding cloud. The Crab Pulsar, a star spinning 30 times a second, is visible as a bright spot in the sky. The Crab's emission is powered by a collapsed remnant of the stellar core. The Crab Nebula is 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.

The picture is a Christmas comet.

Robert Nemiroff is an author and Jerry Bonnell is an editor.
Phillip Newman has specific rights.
NASA has a privacy policy on the internet.
There is a service at NASA.
& Michigan Tech. U.