APOD: Beautiful Comet Nishimura (2023 Sep 11)

[APOD Robot]

Beautiful Comet Nishimura

Explanation: This scene would be beautiful even without the comet. By itself, the sunrise sky is an elegant deep blue on high, with faint white stars peeking through, while near the horizon is a pleasing tan. By itself, the foreground hills of eastern Slovakia are appealingly green, with the Zadňa hura and Veľká hora hills in the distance, and with the lights of small towns along the way. Venus, by itself on the right, appears unusually exquisite, surrounded by a colorful atmospheric corona. But what attracts the eye most is the comet. On the left, in this composite image taken just before dawn yesterday morning, is Comet Nishimura. On recent mornings around the globe, its bright coma and long ion tail make many a morning panoramic photo unusually beautiful. Tomorrow, C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) will pass its nearest to the Earth for about the next 434 years.

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[Ann]

Beautiful Comet Nishimura. Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek / Institute of Physics in Opava

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What an exquisitely beautiful image!!!

As the caption said, the colors are gorgeous. The sky, the landscape, and then Venus and the comet - absolutely glorious!!!

Obviously I love the halo around Venus. When I first saw the picture, I thought that Venus was the Moon, because the softly colorful light surrounding our sister planet sure looks like a lunar halo.

And I love the elongated cloud to the left of Venus that makes Venus look as if Venus had a cometary tail, too!

I find the comet stunning. Its somewhat bluish-cyan coma is a bit bluer than I would have expected, but hey - I'm not complaining!!! The comet's blue tail is beautiful, of course, and it sure stands out against the sky. Looks like the comet only has an ion tail and not a dust tail, then? I suppose that with such a makeup the comet can't be a too frequent flyer to the vicinity of the Sun - although it is apparently expected to return in "only" 434 years?

But as for the background stars, can anyone help me? What is the bright star seen immediately to the upper left of the comet's coma? I'm thinking that it might just be Regulus, because obviously Venus is seen in the east in the morning, and Regulus should be somewhere in the east in the morning at this time of year, too.

But if the star next to the comet is Regulus, then what is the intensely reddish object to the lower right of the comet? Could it by any chance be Mars? I doubt it, because if the star next to the comet is Regulus, then Mars is too far away from it to make an appearance here. Okay, so could it be Mercury? Maybe possibly maybe?

And what stars are near Venus? Isn't Venus in Cancer now? But there are no bright stars in Cancer. Is it even possible that Venus was in Hydra when the background sky for the APOD was photographed, and that the stars near Venus in the APOD belong to constellation Hydra?

Ann

[Knight of Clear Skies]

That's a beautiful image.

But as for the background stars, can anyone help me? What is the bright star seen immediately to the upper left of the comet's coma? I'm thinking that it might just be Regulus, because obviously Venus is seen in the east in the morning, and Regulus should be somewhere in the east in the morning at this time of year, too.

But if the star next to the comet is Regulus, then what is the intensely reddish object to the lower right of the comet? Could it by any chance be Mars? I doubt it, because if the star next to the comet is Regulus, then Mars is too far away from it to make an appearance here. Okay, so could it be Mercury? Maybe possibly maybe?

And what stars are near Venus? Isn't Venus in Cancer now? But there are no bright stars in Cancer. Is it even possible that Venus was in Hydra when the background sky for the APOD was photographed, and that the stars near Venus in the APOD belong to constellation Hydra?

Ann

The image was taken early on the morning of 9th September, when the comet was just below Adhafera in Leo. The bright star below and to the right is Algieba. Regulus is hidden in the cloud.

The star to the left of Venus is Acubens in Cancer. The stars of the head of Hydra are below and to the right.

I used the comet finder in Heavens Above and Stellarium to find the correct date and match everything up. Hope that's some help.

[Ann]

That's a beautiful image.

But as for the background stars, can anyone help me? What is the bright star seen immediately to the upper left of the comet's coma? I'm thinking that it might just be Regulus, because obviously Venus is seen in the east in the morning, and Regulus should be somewhere in the east in the morning at this time of year, too.

But if the star next to the comet is Regulus, then what is the intensely reddish object to the lower right of the comet? Could it by any chance be Mars? I doubt it, because if the star next to the comet is Regulus, then Mars is too far away from it to make an appearance here. Okay, so could it be Mercury? Maybe possibly maybe?

And what stars are near Venus? Isn't Venus in Cancer now? But there are no bright stars in Cancer. Is it even possible that Venus was in Hydra when the background sky for the APOD was photographed, and that the stars near Venus in the APOD belong to constellation Hydra?

Ann

The image was taken early on the morning of 9th September, when the comet was just below Adhafera in Leo. The bright star below and to the right is Algieba. Regulus is hidden in the cloud.

The star to the left of Venus is Acubens in Cancer. The stars of the head of Hydra are below and to the right.

I used the comet finder in Heavens Above and Stellarium to find the correct date and match everything up. Hope that's some help.

Thanks a bunch! Yes, that certainly helps!

Constellation Leo with star names stars astro illinois edu.png

Constellation Leo with star names.

The Sickle of Leo. The bright blue star at bottom is Regulus, the blue star above it is Eta Leonis, the orange star to the upper left of Eta is Gamma or Algieba, and the white star above Algieba is Zeta or Adhafera. The two stars that are prominently visible near the comet in the APOD are Adhafera and Algieba.

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So the comet is located between Zeta (Adhafera) and Gamma (Algieba) Leonis in the APOD.


As for the stars near Venus, they are the Alpha star of constellation Cancer and also stars from the "head of the Hydra":

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You can see constellation Leo and Cancer to the right of it. You can also see constellation Hydra and the "head of the Hydra" at upper center right. To the upper left of the head of the Hydra is Alpha Cancri, or Acubens, which is seen to the left of Venus. The stars below and to the right of Venus belong to the head of the Hydra.

Thanks again!

Ann

[johnnydeep]

This is indeed a gorgeous shot. It looks like a vista straight out of a story by Lord Dunsany, in which you can catch a glimpse of lands "beyond the fields we know". This image is a keeper for sure.

[johnnydeep]

So, in view of the star identification discussion above, who's going to be enterprising and post a mouse-over compilation of this APOD image and a matching background star chart?

[orin stepanek]

DSCF4968_PS_Lioce-1024.jpg

Beautiful Comet Nishimura!

Smiling-Cat.jpg

Kitty looks a little Smug!