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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.   
      
                                  2023 October 27   
      
                              Encke and the Tadpoles   
                      Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett   
      
      Explanation: History's second known periodic comet is Comet Encke   
      (2P/Encke). As it swings through the inner Solar System, Encke's orbit   
      takes it from an aphelion, its greatest distance from the Sun, inside   
      the orbit of Jupiter to a perihelion just inside the orbit of Mercury.   
      Returning to its perihelion every 3.3 years, Encke has the shortest   
      period of the Solar System's major comets. Comet Encke is also   
      associated with (at least) two annual meteor showers on planet Earth,   
      the North and South Taurids. Both showers are active in late October   
      and early November. Their two separate radiants lie near bright star   
      Aldebaran in the head-strong constellation Taurus. A faint comet, Encke   
      was captured in this telescopic field of view imaged on the morning of   
      August 24. Then, Encke's pretty greenish coma was close on the sky to   
      the young, embedded star cluster and light-years long, tadpole-shaped   
      star-forming clouds in emission nebula IC 410. Now near bright star   
      Spica in Virgo Comet Encke passed its 2023 perihelion only five days   
      ago, on October 22.   
      
                   Tomorrow's picture: mostly a ghostly weekend   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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