                        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.

                                2024 June 28

                              Comet 13P/Olbers
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett`

   Explanation: Not a paradox, Comet 13P/Olbers is returning to the inner
   Solar System after 68 years. The periodic, Halley-type comet will reach
   its next perihelion or closest approach to the Sun on June 30 and has
   become a target for binocular viewing low in planet Earth's northern
   hemisphere night skies. But this sharp telescopic image of 13P is
   composed of stacked exposures made on the night of June 25. It easily
   reveals shifting details in the bright comet's torn and tattered ion
   tail buffeted by the wind from an active Sun, along with a broad,
   fanned-out dust tail and slightly greenish coma. The frame spans over
   two degrees across a background of faint stars toward the constellation
   Lynx.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

