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Comet Catalina Emerges

Explanation: Comet Catalina is ready for its close-up. The giant snowball from the outer Solar System, known formally as C/2013 US10 (Catalina), rounded the Sun last month and is now headed for its closest approach to Earth in January. With the glow of the Moon now also out of the way, morning observers in Earth's northern hemisphere are getting their best ever view of the new comet. And Comet Catalina is not disappointing. Although not as bright as early predictions, the comet is sporting both dust (lower left) and ion (upper right) tails, making it an impressive object for binoculars and long-exposure cameras. The featured image was taken last week from the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. Sky enthusiasts around the world will surely be tracking the comet over the next few months to see how it evolves.

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My first thought when I saw the photo was, "That's no comet!"
I suppose the reason the comet's tail points (apparently) in almost opposite directions is perspective. So they are probably both pointing toward Earth, with only a few degrees separating them.

FLPhotoCatcher wrote:My first thought when I saw the photo was, "That's no comet!"
I suppose the reason the comet's tail points (apparently) in almost opposite directions is perspective. So they are probably both pointing toward Earth, with only a few degrees separating them.

The dust tail points generally back along the orbital path, the ion trail points away from the Sun. The comet is in a retrograde, highly inclined orbit. It just crossed the ecliptic, so the ion tail is approximately coplanar with the ecliptic, the dust trail descends south of it. The two tails are widely separated.

It's always a great time to have a comet zoom into our view of the universe around the new year. I liked this link to Sky and Telescope better although the one provided was a bit more recent.

These are nice to leave on the counter to know where to look each night if one is lucky enough to have a clear view. New Year's Day (night) looks pretty great for photographers and for those comet trackers who need a good landmark.

Wow! Beautiful picture. F. H. Hemmerich has done a wonderful job capturing this image IMHO. Today's APOD goes into my saved photos collection. Ann, thank you for the link showing the previous wide tailed image. Both wonderful pictures and so different in colors.

Is the difference in the colors due to the handling of the image photograph or angle and composition of the comet? Or both and angle from the sun as viewed from Earth.

Again, thank you to all contributors to APOD for sharing your knowledge with everyone interested in looking up.

Bill

FLPhotoCatcher wrote:My first thought when I saw the photo was, "That's no comet!"

More gloom, doom, and disaster.....great....

Nice Image...hope to get a look at it by January...but weather is dreadful here in Oregon at the moment....rain, rain, rain...or brutally cold...

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