by APOD Robot » Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:02 am
Pacman and Hartley
Explanation: Touring the solar system with a 6 year
orbital period, small
comet Hartley 2 (103/P Hartley) will make its closest approach to planet Earth on October 20 and its closest approach to the Sun on October 28. It may become a naked-eye comet, just visible in clear, dark skies. Meanwhile the comet has been a tempting telescopic target,
seen here with an alluring green coma as it shares the frame with emission nebula
NGC 281 and stars of the constellation Cassiopeia on October 2. The nebula's gaping profile defined by dust clouds against the red glow suggests its more
playful moniker, the Pacman Nebula. An apparent short bright streak shows the comet's motion against the background stars during the hour of accumulated exposure time. Over the next few days Comet Hartley 2's motion will also carry it across a field of view featuring the famous
double star cluster in Perseus.
On November 4 a spacecraft from planet Earth will actually fly within about 700 kilometers of
the comet's nucleus. Now
dubbed EPOXI, that spacecraft was formerly known
as Deep Impact.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101007.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_101007.jpg[/img] [size=150]Pacman and Hartley[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] [url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=103p&orb=1]Touring[/url] the solar system with a 6 year [url=http://pdssbn.astro.umd.edu/comet_data/periodic_comets.html]orbital period[/url], small [url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/102632669.html]comet Hartley 2[/url] (103/P Hartley) will make its closest approach to planet Earth on October 20 and its closest approach to the Sun on October 28. It may become a naked-eye comet, just visible in clear, dark skies. Meanwhile the comet has been a tempting telescopic target, [url=http://www.castillosdesoria.com/astropics/imagen.asp?id=1&seccion=1&id_prod=249]seen here with[/url] an alluring green coma as it shares the frame with emission nebula [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081210.html]NGC 281[/url] and stars of the constellation Cassiopeia on October 2. The nebula's gaping profile defined by dust clouds against the red glow suggests its more [url=http://www.google.com/pacman/]playful[/url] moniker, the Pacman Nebula. An apparent short bright streak shows the comet's motion against the background stars during the hour of accumulated exposure time. Over the next few days Comet Hartley 2's motion will also carry it across a field of view featuring the famous [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091204.html]double star cluster[/url] in Perseus. [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/epoxi/epoxi20101004.html]On November 4[/url] a spacecraft from planet Earth will actually fly within about 700 kilometers of [url=http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/35/image/a/]the comet's nucleus[/url]. Now [url=http://epoxi.umd.edu/]dubbed EPOXI[/url], that spacecraft was formerly known [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080903.html]as Deep Impact[/url].
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