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 23

                              Fairytale NEOWISE
     Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Guisard (Los Cielos de America,
                                    TWAN)

   Explanation: Comet dust falls through a twilight sky in this dream-like
   scene, but it's not part of a fairytale movie. Still, Castle
   Neuschwanstein, nestled in the Bavarian Alps, did inspire Disneyland's
   Sleeping Beauty Castle. Captured on July 20, the bright streak above
   the castle towers is likely a Perseid meteor. Though it peaks near
   mid-August, the annual summer meteor shower is active now. The meteor
   trail over the fairytale castle can be traced back to the shower's
   radiant in the heroic constellation Perseus off the top right of the
   frame. Perseid meteors are produced by dust from periodic Comet
   Swift-Tuttle. With its own broad dust tail now sweeping through
   northern skies the celestial apparition above the distant horizon is
   planet Earth's current darling, Comet NEOWISE.

   Comet NEOWISE Images: July 22 || 21 || 20 || 19 || 18 || 17 || 16 || 15
                 || 14 || 13 || 12 || 11 || 10 & earlier ||
                      Tomorrow's picture: Magic NEOWISE
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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