Starship Asterisk*

ZTF meets ATLAS

Explanation: Fading as it races across planet Earth's northern skies comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) shares this telescopic frame with comet C/2022 U2 (ATLAS). Captured on the night of February 6 from a garden observatory in Germany's Bavarian Forest, the starry field of view toward the constellation Auriga spans about 2.5 degrees. Discovered by sky survey projects in 2022 (the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) these long-period comets are outbound, reaching perihelion just last month. The much fainter comet ATLAS made its closest approach to our fair planet on January 29 at a distance of about 4.6 light-minutes, compared to a mere 2.4 light-minutes for comet ZTF on February 2. This comet ATLAS lacks the well-developed tails of the formerly naked-eye comet ZTF. But both comets sport greenish tinted comas, emission from diatomic carbon molecules fluorescing in sunlight. Continuing its dash across planet Earth's sky, the good-binocular comet ZTF will appear close to bright planet Mars tonight.

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The "Discuss" menu item is missing on todays APOD image, which is quite impressive (the image, that is).

Comet Meets Comet! How rare is That?

Holger Nielsen wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 9:00 am The "Discuss" menu item is missing on todays APOD image, which is quite impressive (the image, that is).

A typo was made on the main NASA page that has now been corrected. The "Discuss" link now shows. We apologize for the mistake.
- RJN

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 1:45 pm C2022E3ZTFmeetsC2022U2Atlasbeschriftet1024.jpg
Comet Meets Comet! How rare is That?

Really; seems like it would be extremly rare!

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:56 am

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 1:45 pm C2022E3ZTFmeetsC2022U2Atlasbeschriftet1024.jpg
Comet Meets Comet! How rare is That?

Really; seems like it would be extremly rare! :mrgreen:

August 2020. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) in the same field.
_

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 4:57 am

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:56 am

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 1:45 pm C2022E3ZTFmeetsC2022U2Atlasbeschriftet1024.jpg
Comet Meets Comet! How rare is That?

Really; seems like it would be extremly rare!

August 2020. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) in the same field.
_

Click to view full size image

Thanks Chris