APOD: A Comet and a Crab (2021 Oct 22)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5344
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: A Comet and a Crab (2021 Oct 22)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Oct 22, 2021 4:06 am

Image A Comet and a Crab

Explanation: This pretty field of view spans over 2 degrees or 4 full moons on the sky, filled with stars toward the constellation Taurus, the Bull. Above and right of center in the frame you can spot the faint fuzzy reddish appearance of Messier 1 (M1), also known as the Crab Nebula. M1 is the first object in 18th century comet hunter Charles Messier's famous catalog of things which are definitely not comets. Made from image data captured this October 11, there is a comet in the picture though. Below center and left lies the faint greenish coma and dusty tail of periodic comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, also known as Rosetta's comet. In the 21st century, it became the final resting place of robots from planet Earth. Rosetta's comet is now returning to the inner solar system, sweeping toward its next perihelion or closest approach to the Sun, on November 2. Too faint to be seen by eye alone, the comet's next perigee or closest approach to Earth will be November 12.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13372
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: A Comet and a Crab (2021 Oct 22)

Post by Ann » Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:26 am

Comet M1 Zet Tau APOD October 22 2021.png
Field around zeta Tau M1 vdB 47 and comet APOD 22 october 2021.png

At right you can see what the star field near M1 (the Crab Nebula) and Zeta Tau looks like in my software. As you can see, you must flip the image "to the upper right" by 90 degrees to get a field where north is up. Note the striking red reflection nebula, vdB 47, which surrounds red supergiant star HD 37387.

Another star is of interest, namely HD 37752. Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko is passing right next to it, from our point of view.

Ann
Color Commentator

heehaw

Re: APOD: A Comet and a Crab (2021 Oct 22)

Post by heehaw » Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:50 am

"18th century comet hunter Charles Messier's famous catalog of things which are definitely not comets." His signal was comets, his noise was ... all that he is remembered for!

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: A Comet and a Crab (2021 Oct 22)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri Oct 22, 2021 12:39 pm

67p_m1_vdb47_1024.jpg
Nice photo! I wish the comet and the nebula was a large photo!
300px-Comet_67P_on_19_September_2014_NavCam_mosaic.jpg
300px-Comet_67P_on_19_September_2014_NavCam_mosaic.jpg (10.86 KiB) Viewed 2147 times
taken from Wikipedia ;67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
looks like a monster animal! :mrgreen:
67p_m1_vdb47_1024.jpg
I can't enlarge more without screwing with the location! :roll:
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5306
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: APOD: A Comet and a Crab (2021 Oct 22)

Post by starsurfer » Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:46 pm

Ann wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:26 am
Comet M1 Zet Tau APOD October 22 2021.png
Field around zeta Tau M1 vdB 47 and comet APOD 22 october 2021.png

At right you can see what the star field near M1 (the Crab Nebula) and Zeta Tau looks like in my software. As you can see, you must flip the image "to the upper right" by 90 degrees to get a field where north is up. Note the striking red reflection nebula, vdB 47, which surrounds red supergiant star HD 37387.

Another star is of interest, namely HD 37752. Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko is passing right next to it, from our point of view.

Ann
One of the few closeup images of vdB47 is this one by Antonio Sánchez.

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

A Canon and a Crab

Post by neufer » Sat Oct 23, 2021 4:18 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_canon wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
<<A crab canon (also known by the Latin form of the name, canon cancrizans; as well as retrograde canon, canon per recte et retro or canon per rectus et inversus) is an arrangement of two musical lines that are complementary and backward. If the two lines were placed next to each other (as opposed to stacked), the lines would form something conceptually similar to a palindrome. The name 'crab' refers to the fact that crabs are known to walk backward (although they can also walk forward and sideways). It originally referred to a kind of canon in which one line is played backward (e.g. FABACEAE played simultaneously with EAECABAF). An example is found in J. S. Bach's The Musical Offering, which also contains a table canon ("Quaerendo invenietis"), which combines retrogression with inversion by having one player turn the music upside down.>>
Art Neuendorffer

Post Reply