How to get the best views of Comet Panstarrs this March
Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS with its dusty tail photographed on January 27, 2013 from Australia, where it’s well placed for viewing before dawn. Taken with an 11-inch telescope. Credit: Michael Mattiazzo...
View ArticleTadpole comet swims under Deep Impact’s gaze
Video of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON compiled from images taken by NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft on Jan. 17-18, 2013. Comet ISON looks like a tadpole in the video, but we all know that tiny tadpoles grow into...
View ArticleSTEREO probe snaps portrait of Earth and Comet PANSTARRS
Comet PANSTARRS joins Mercury and our own planet in this photo taken by STEREO-B on March 10, 2013. Click for large version. Credit: NASA / courtesy Karl Battams Wow, now isn’t that the coolest! The...
View ArticleComet PANSTARRS grows fan-tastic tail
Italian amateur astronomer Lorenzo Comolli captured beautiful symmetric rays called synchronic bands in the dust tail of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on March 21, 2013 through his 5.5-inch refracting...
View ArticleComet PANSTARRS x 2 and the Pan-STARRS asteroid survey
The Andromeda Galaxy (left) and Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS last night about 9:20 p.m. The tail fans out broadly in the galaxy’s direction. To the left of the comet’s head is a sharp, stub of a tail made...
View ArticleLizard Lemmon Comet loses tail, grows a new one
Comet C/2012 F6 Lemmon photographed on May 15 showing its bluish, ion tail (bottom) beginning to peel away from the comet. The dust tail sticks out to the left. A wispy, new gas tail is already growing...
View ArticleFizzy Comet ISON puttin’ on the spritz
These images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON were taken on June 13, when ISON was 310 million miles (about 500 million km) from the sun. Credit: NASA Holy carbonated comets...
View ArticleCool Comet ISON simulations help us picture its upcoming flyby
A single frame of Comet ISON showing its location relative to the inner planets in early September. Click to watch the full flyby. Credit: INOVE Visualizing astronomical concepts can make astronomy a...
View ArticleCatch Comet Jacques near Venus at dawn
Venus will help us find Comet Jacques in Taurus an hour and a half before sunrise tomorrow morning July 16, 2014. The comet will be near the naked eye star Beta Tauri during the next week. Source:...
View ArticleNew Rosetta pix show comet craters – only 6 days to go!
The nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimernko as seen from a distance of 1,200 miles (1,950 km) on July 29th, 2014. One pixel corresponds to approximately 121 feet (37 m). The bright neck region...
View ArticleComet Jacques zips through Cassiopeia – catch it this week!
Wow! Comet Jacques cuts between the Heart (right) and Soul Nebulae in Cassiopeia on August 19th. These clouds of fluorescing hydrogen gas are also known as IC 1845 and IC 1848. Click to enlarge....
View ArticleMeet The Most Beautiful Comet You’ll Never See, C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS
Wow – what a gorgeous group! Comet C/2014 Q1 is near the bottom in this picture taken July 19, 2015 from Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia. At right from top down are the moon, Venus and Jupiter. They’re...
View ArticleComet Catalina Comes Up All Tails / Full Frost Moon / Aldebaran Cover-up
Comet C/203 US10 Catalina looks like a boomerang in this photo taken by Austrian astrophotographer Michael Jaeger on Nov. 24, 2015. Look closely and you’ll see three tails! Credit: Michael Jaeger It’s...
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