A place were I can write...
My simple blog of pictures of travel, friends, activities and the Universe we live in as we go slowly around the Sun.
June 06, 2014
PanSTARRS C/2012 K1
Sweeping slowly through northern skies, the comet PanSTARRS C/2012 K1 posed for
this telescopic portrait on June 2nd in the constellation Ursa Major. Now in the
inner solar system, the icy body from the Oort
cloud sports two tails, a lighter broad dust tail and crooked ion tail
extending below and right. The comet's condensed greenish coma makes a nice
contrast with the spiky yellowish background star above. NGC 3319
appears at the upper left of the frame that spans almost twice the apparent
diameter of the full Moon. The spiral galaxy is about 47 million light-years
away, far beyond the stars in our own Milky Way. In comparison, the comet was a
mere 14 light-minutes from our fair planet. This comet PanSTARRS will slowly
grow brighter in the coming
months remaining a good target for telescopic comet watchers and reaching
perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, while just beyond
Earth's orbit in late August.
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