Astro-Porn of the Day: Comet Pan-STARRS and Andromeda Galaxy

[mckitterick]

Been buried; sorry for absence; have some amazing astro-porn!


Click the image to see the Spaceweather website.

Just WOW. The comet is still visible as it moves farther from the Sun, though it's growing dimmer, too. But WOW.

Back to work,
Chris

Comments

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

so that thingie at the bottom is the comet. hm. It doesn't look like what I'm used to seeing. Like the angle behind the leading edge is so wide.

[jimvanpelt.livejournal.com]

The universe is a marvelous place. In western Colorado, the night skies are particularly clear (we're at 5,500 feet above sea level in dry air). I really love my driveway moments at night when I get home, get out of the car and look up.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I know! They can vary a lot depending on the angle they're approaching the Sun, what they're made of, and so on. The user-icon for this response is a photo I took of comet 17P/Holmes from a few years back: the "exploding" comet that suddenly grew a bubble.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous of your easy access to dark skies! Where I spent my high-school years in western Minnesota, I enjoyed such dark skies, and in northeast Montana years after that. Miss the skies in those places (if not the places).