APOD: Comet and Lightning Beyond Bighorn... (2020 Jul 27)

[APOD Robot]

Comet and Lightning Beyond Bighorn Mountains

Explanation: Normally, Steamboat Point looks cool -- but not this cool. Every day, the iconic peak of the Bighorn Mountains is an interesting sight, in particular from US Highway 14 in Wyoming. On some rare days, the rocky vertical ridges look even more incredible when seen in front of a distant lightning storm. Earlier this month, though, something even more unusual happened -- the naked-eye Comet NEOWISE rose above it in the middle of the night. Just as a distant lightning storm was occurring in the background. Recognizing a rare opportunity, a determined astrophotographer spent a sleepless night capturing over 1400 images of this unusual triple conjunction. The featured image is among the best of them, with the foreground lit by the Moon off to the right. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return only in about 6700 years.

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[gadieid]

Beautiful photo, but please be more precise when you use the term "triple conjunction".
It is so common to use it wrongly but from APOD I expect more. A triple conjunction is when there are 3 conjunctions in a row between two objects, since one of them is in retrograde motion. Not every planet-planet or planet-star conjunctions triple but some are!

When 3 objects are close together it is either Planetary-grouping or Plaentry-Trio (Quad, whatever) or just grouping. Nothing to do with conjunctions.
Gadi

[orin stepanek]

CometLightning_Palmer_960.jpg

Beautiful! Neowise on a long space journey, adeos untill we meet
again in 6700 years!

[BDanielMayfield]

Beautiful! Neowise on a long space journey, adeos untill we meet
again in 6700 years!

My how time flies. Why, I can remember just like it was yesterday when it was going to be 6800 years until NEOWISE's return.

[neufer]

Beautiful! Neowise on a long space journey, adeos untill we meet
again in 6700 years!

My how time flies.

Why, I can remember just like it was yesterday when it was going to be 6800 years until NEOWISE's return.

That earlier prediction was based upon Stonehenge astronomy:
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 51#p304151

[Cousin Ricky]

The photographer has a picture of a couple of grizzly bears on his website. I don’t have that kind of bravery.

[johnnydeep]

CometLightning_Palmer_960.jpg

Beautiful! Neowise on a long space journey, adeos untill we meet
again in 6700 years!

And quite a collection of objects with disparate longevities in this image: lightning, clouds, grass, trees, comet, mountain, rock, stars (though likely many - most?/all? - of those stars are younger than the rock that makes up the mountain!)

[neufer]

And quite a collection of objects with disparate longevities in this image: lightning, clouds, grass, trees, comet, mountain, rock, stars (though likely many - most?/all? - of those stars are younger than the rock that makes up the mountain!)

• The brighter B stars beyond the Bighorns for the mountains themselves.

---

<<The Bighorns were uplifted during the Laramide orogeny beginning approximately 70 million years ago. They consist of over 9,000 feet (2,700 m) of sedimentary rock strata laid down before mountain-building began: the predominantly marine and near-shore sedimentary layers range from the Cambrian through the Lower Cretaceous, and are often rich in fossils. There is an unconformity where Silurian strata were exposed to erosion and are missing. The granite bedrock below these sedentary layers is now exposed along the crest of the Bighorns. The precambrian formations contain some of the oldest rocks in the world, at 3.25 billion years old. Following the uplift, large volumes of sediments, rich in early Tertiary fossils, were deposited in the adjoining basins. The ice ages of the Holocene led to extensive glaciation. Though many cirques, U-shaped valleys and glacial lakes can be found in the mountain range, the only remaining active glacier is the Cloud Peak Glacier, which is on the east slope of Cloud Peak.>>

[orin stepanek]

Comet and Lightning Beyond Bighorn Mountains

Explanation: Normally, Steamboat Point looks cool -- but not this cool. Every day, the iconic peak of the Bighorn Mountains is an interesting sight, in particular from US Highway 14 in Wyoming. On some rare days, the rocky vertical ridges look even more incredible when seen in front of a distant lightning storm. Earlier this month, though, something even more unusual happened -- the naked-eye Comet NEOWISE rose above it in the middle of the night. Just as a distant lightning storm was occurring in the background. Recognizing a rare opportunity, a determined astrophotographer spent a sleepless night capturing over 1400 images of this unusual triple conjunction. The featured image is among the best of them, with the foreground lit by the Moon off to the right. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return (only in about 6700) years.

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6700!????

[neufer]

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return (only in about 6700) years.

6700!????

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return (only in about 6700 years).

[orin stepanek]

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return (only in about 6700) years.

6700!????

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is now headed back to the outer Solar System, destined to return (only in about 6700 years).

Yup! +1