Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                                2020 July 16

                       The Long Tails of Comet NEOWISE
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horalek

   Explanation: This Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) now sweeps through our fair
   planet's northern skies. Its long tails stretch across this deep
   skyview from Suchy Vrch, Czech Republic. Recorded on the night of July
   13/14, the composite of untracked foreground and tracked and filtered
   sky exposures teases out details in the comet's tail not visible to the
   unaided eye. Faint structures extend to the top of the frame, over 20
   degrees from the comet's bright coma. Pushed out by the pressure of
   sunlight itself, the broad curve of the comet's yellowish dust tail is
   easy to see by eye. But the fainter, more bluish tail is separate from
   the reflective comet dust. The fainter tail is an ion tail, formed as
   ions from the cometary coma are dragged outward by magnetic fields in
   the solar wind and fluoresce in the sunlight. Outbound NEOWISE is
   climbing higher in northern evening skies, coming closest to Earth on
   July 23rd.

    Notable Images of Comet NEOWISE Submitted to APOD: || July 15 || July
         14 || July 13 || July 12 || July 11 || July 10 & earlier ||
                     Tomorrow's picture: tales in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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