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                           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.   
      
                                  2022 January 12   
      
                       Comet Leonard Closeup from Australia   
              Image Credit & Copyright: Blake Estes (itelescope.net)   
      
      Explanation: What does Comet Leonard look like up close? Although we   
      can't go there, imaging the comet's coma and inner tails through a   
      small telescope gives us a good idea. As the name implies, the ion tail   
      is made of ionized gas -- gas energized by ultraviolet light from the   
      Sun and pushed outward by the solar wind. The solar wind is quite   
      structured and sculpted by the Sun's complex and ever changing magnetic   
      field. The effect of the variable solar wind combined with different   
      gas jets venting from the comet's nucleus accounts for the tail's   
      complex structure. Following the wind, structure in Comet Leonard's   
      tail can be seen to move outward from the Sun even alter its wavy   
      appearance over time. The blue color of the ion tail is dominated by   
      recombining carbon monoxide molecules, while the green color of the   
      coma surrounding the head of the comet is created mostly by a slight   
      amount of recombining diatomic carbon molecules. Diatomic carbon is   
      destroyed by sunlight in about 50 hours -- which is why its green glow   
      does not make it far into the ion tail. The featured imagae was taken   
      on January 2 from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Comet   
      Leonard, presently best viewed from Earth's Southern Hemisphere, has   
      rounded the Sun and is now headed out of the Solar System.   
      
                          Tomorrow's picture: open space   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          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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