MSGID: 1:153/757.0 1434a58f   
   TZUTC: -0700   
   CHRS: LATIN-1 2   
                           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 March 26   
       A large comet is shown with its head near the right and a light blue   
      flowing ion tail flowing across into the rest of the image. Please see   
                  the explanation for more detailed information.   
      
                            Comet Pons-Brooks' Ion Tail   
                       Image Credit & License: James Peirce   
      
      Explanation: Comet Pons-Brooks has quite a tail to tell. First   
      discovered in 1385, this erupting dirty snowball loops back into our   
      inner Solar System every 71 years and, this time, is starting to put on   
      a show for deep camera exposures. In the featured picture, the light   
      blue stream is the ion tail which consists of charged molecules pushed   
      away from the comet's nucleus by the solar wind. The ion tail, shaped   
      by the Sun's wind and the comet's core's rotation, always points away   
      from the Sun. Comet 12P/PonsCÇôBrooks is now visible with binoculars in   
      the early evening sky toward the northwest, moving perceptibly from   
      night to night. The frequently flaring comet is expected to continue to   
      brighten, on the average, and may even become visible with the unaided   
      eye -- during the day -- to those in the path of totality of the coming   
      solar eclipse on April 8.   
      
                     Tomorrow's picture: thousands of galaxies   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
                     NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;   
                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6   
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 90/1 105/81 106/201 128/260 129/305 134/100 135/225   
   SEEN-BY: 153/135 143 148 757 802 6809 7083 7715 218/700 840 221/1   
   SEEN-BY: 221/6 226/30 227/114 229/110 112 113 206 307 317 400 426   
   SEEN-BY: 229/428 470 664 700 240/1120 266/512 282/1038 291/111 301/1   
   SEEN-BY: 301/113 812 320/219 322/757 335/364 341/66 342/200 396/45   
   SEEN-BY: 460/58 256 1124 633/280 712/848 5020/400 1042 5054/30 5075/35   
   PATH: 153/757 221/6 301/1 460/58 229/426