APOD: Comet Pons-Brooks at Night (2024 Apr 04)

[APOD Robot]

Comet Pons-Brooks at Night

Explanation: In dark evening skies over June Lake, northern hemisphere, planet Earth, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks stood just above the western horizon on March 30. Its twisted turbulent ion tail and diffuse greenish coma are captured in this two degree wide telescopic field of view along with bright yellowish star Hamal also known as Alpha Arietis. Now Pons-Brooks has moved out of the northern night though, approaching perihelion on April 21. On April 8 you might still spot the comet in daytime skies. But to do it, you will have to stand in the path of totality and look away from the spectacle of an alluring solar corona and totally eclipsed Sun.

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[Ann]

Yes, Pons-Brooks is a nice comet!

Comet Pons-Brooks at Night. Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

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I still find it very interesting that Pons-Brooks is so "gassy", even though it has (or so I think) visited the vicinity of the Sun several times. Getting close to the blisteringly hot Sun and its merciless solar wind, and doing it on several occasions to boot, should be enough to make any comet deflate!


I find it interesting, too, that Pons-Brooks has such a faint, vaguely misty-looking dust tail. If you should accidentally blunder into a British whodunnit story and find yourself inside a mist like that, watch out or you'll be the victim whose murder the detective has to solve!

My impression is that many (or most?) comets have dust tails that are brighter than their ion tails:

Comet Hale-Bopp and open cluster M34. Credit: Kopernik Astro Society.

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And now we just wait for the next Pons-Brooks APOD - Comet Pons-Brooks in daytime skies on April 8, 2024! That is, if anyone can tear his or her eyes off the corona of the eclipsed Sun and search for Pons-Brooks in the opposite part of the sky!

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Yes, Pons-Brooks is a nice comet!

Comet Pons-Brooks at Night. Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

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APOD 4 April 2024 annotated.png

I still find it very interesting that Pons-Brooks is so "gassy", even though it has (or so I think) visited the vicinity of the Sun several times. Getting close to the blisteringly hot Sun and its merciless solar wind, and doing it on several occasions to boot, should be enough to make any comet deflate!


I find it interesting, too, that Pons-Brooks has such a faint, vaguely misty-looking dust tail. If you should accidentally blunder into a British whodunnit story and find yourself inside a mist like that, watch out or you'll be the victim whose murder the detective has to solve!

My impression is that many (or most?) comets have dust tails that are brighter than their ion tails:

Comet Hale-Bopp and open cluster M34. Credit: Kopernik Astro Society.

---

And now we just wait for the next Pons-Brooks APOD - Comet Pons-Brooks in daytime skies on April 8, 2024! That is, if anyone can tear his or her eyes off the corona of the eclipsed Sun and search for Pons-Brooks in the opposite part of the sky!

Ann

I guess it's more in the "dirty snowball" category than the "snowy dirtball category". Lots of ice and not so much dust.