A star-filled sky has two streaks in the foreground. A green and red streak toward the lower left was created by an ablating meteor, while the blue and white streak on the upper right is the coma and tail of a comet. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
星光闪耀的天空前景中有两条条纹。左下方的绿色和红色条纹是由流星划过形成的，而右上方的蓝色和白色条纹是彗星的彗发和彗尾。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
A starfield is shown that includes a bright comet. A bright tail points to the upper right but has an unusual dark streak in it. A thin anti-tail points toward the lower left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
图中显示的星空包括一颗明亮的彗星。明亮的彗尾指向右上方，但其中有一条不寻常的暗色条纹。细长的反彗尾指向左下方。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
A starfield is shown with a bright comet. The main tail of the comet points diagonally to the upper left, while a thin anti-tail points to the lower right. Mountain peaks are visible at the bottom in the foreground. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
星空下有一颗明亮的彗星。彗星的彗尾指向左上方，而细长的反彗尾指向右下方。前景底部可见山峰。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
请参阅说明。单击图片将下载可用的最高分辨率版本。
A starry sky is pictured just after sunset. The silhouette of plants and a distant landscape covers the bottom of the picture. Spanning most of the frame is a comet with an amazingly long and complex tail. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
照片中是日落之后的星空。植物的轮廓和远处的风景覆盖了图片的底部。一颗彗星占据了大部分画面，彗尾长得惊人且复杂。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
2023年8月21日 Introducing Comet Nishimura Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett Explanation: Will Comet Nishimura become visible to the unaided eye? Given the unpredictability of comets, no one can say for sure, but it currently seems like a good bet. The comet was discovered only ten days ago by Hideo Nishimura during 30-second exposures with a standard digital camera. Since then, C/2023 P1 Nishimura has increased in brightness and its path across the inner Solar System determined. As the comet dives toward the Sun, it will surely continue to intensify and possibly become a naked-eye object in early September. A problem is that the comet will also be angularly near the Sun, so it will only be possible to see it near sunset or sunrise. The comet…
2022年12月24日 Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett Explanation: Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility this year in early March. Since then the new long-period comet has brightened substantially and is now sweeping across the northern constellation Corona Borealis in predawn skies. It’s still too dim to see without a telescope though. But this fine telescopic image from December 19 does show the comet’s brighter greenish coma, short broad dust tail, and long faint ion tail stretching across a 2.5 degree wide field-of-view. On a voyage through the inner Solar System comet 2022 E3 will be at perihelion, its closest to the Sun, in the new year on January 12…
2022年1月3日 Comet Leonard’s Long Tail Image Credit & Copyright: Jan Hattenbach Explanation: You couldn’t see Comet Leonard’s extremely long tail with a telescope — it was just too long. You also couldn’t see it with binoculars — still too long. Or with your eyes — it was too dim. Or from a city — the sky was too bright. But from a dark location with a low horizon — your camera could. And still might — if the comet survives today’s closest encounter with the Sun, which occurs between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. The featured picture was created from two deep and wide-angle camera images taken from La Palma in the Canary Islands of Spain late last month. Afterwards, if it survives, what…
2021年12月30日 The Further Tail of Comet Leonard Image Credit & Copyright: Daniele Gasparri Explanation: Comet Leonard, brightest comet of 2021, is at the lower left of these two panels captured on December 29 in dark Atacama desert skies. Heading for its perihelion on January 3 Comet Leonard’s visible tail has grown. Stacked exposures with a wide angle lens (also displayed in a reversed B/W scheme for contrast), trace the complicated ion tail for an amazing 60 degrees, with bright Jupiter shining near the horizon at lower right. Material vaporizing from Comet Leonard’s nucleus, a mass of dust, rock, and ices about 1 kilometer across, has produced the long tail of ionized gas fluorescing in the sunlight. Likely flares on the comet’s nucleus and buffeting by…
