Comet Leonards Long Tail

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

January 3, 2022.
The picture shows a long ion tail.
In late December, it was captured from the Canary Islands of Spain.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

The long tail of the comet.
Jan Hattenbach has the rights to the image.

It was too long for a telescope to see Leonard's tail. You couldn't see it with binoculars. It was too dim with your eyes. The sky was too bright. Your camera could be used from a dark location. If the comet survives today's closest encounter with the Sun, which occurs between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, it still might. The picture was created from two deep and wide-angle camera images taken from La Palma in the Canary Islands of Spain. If it survives, the nucleus will head out of our Solar System.

Tomorrow's picture is moons beyond rings.

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.

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

January 4 is 2022.
The featured image shows the Moons.
The rings of the planet were captured by a robotic mission.
You can see the explanation for more detailed information.

There are rings at the moon.
The image is from the JPL, the Cassini team.

What has happened to the moon of Saturn? The moon of Saturn is hidden behind the rings. In 2010 the robotic Cassini spacecraft looked across the Solar System's most famous rings. The thin F ring on the outside is one of the rings visible in the foreground. Although it seems to be hovering over the rings, the moon is far behind them. One of the smaller moons in the universe is called Janus and it is 180 kilometers across. The larger moon, Rhea, is far from the camera. There are gaps in the rings that allow the top of Rhea to be seen. After more than a decade of exploration and discovery, the Cassini spacecraft ran out of fuel and was directed to enter the atmosphere of Saturn.

Random APOD Generator is used to explore your universe.
Tomorrow's picture is a comet tail-scape.

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.