The Further Tail of Comet Leonard

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

The tail of a comet.
The image is copyrighted by Daniele Gasparri.

The two panels captured on December 29 in the dark skies of the Atacama desert have a comet at the lower left. Leonard's visible tail has grown as he heads for his perihelion on January 3. The ion tail can be seen for an amazing 60 degrees, with bright Jupiter shining near the horizon at lower right. The long tail of ionized gas has been produced by the material vaporizing from the nucleus of comet Leonard. Flares on the comet's nucleus and buffeting by magnetic fields have resulted in the tail's irregular appearance. The activity of the comet should continue even if it is not close to the Sun. The comet is south of the Solar System's ecliptic plane as it sweeps through the southern constellation Microscopium.

The picture is of a road trip.

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 31, 2021.
See the explanation. Clicking on the picture will bring you to the download page.
The highest resolution version is available.

The road leads to L2.
Malcolm Park is a member of the North York Astronomical Association.

This timelapse shows the James Webb Space Telescope as it goes across the stars of the constellation of Orion on its journey to a destination beyond the Moon. The animation was created after 12 consecutive exposures each 10 minutes long were aligned and combined with a subsequent color image of the background stars. After its December 25 launch, the JWST climbed up the gravity ridge from Earth to reach a halo around L2, an Earth-Sun lag point. In space, lagrange points are convenient locations where the centripetal force needed to move along with one massive body is in balance with the gravity of the other. The smaller objects will tend to stay there. L2 is one of the 5 lagrange points and is located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. After launch, the JWST will arrive at L2 on January 23. You can follow the progress of the James Webb Space Telescope online while relaxing in Earth's surface gravity.

The picture is in Moonstripes.

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.