             APOD: 2018 February 12 - Blue Comet Meets Blue Stars

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2018 February 12
                                      [2]
                         Blue Comet Meets Blue Stars
      Credit & Copyright: Tom Masterson [3] (Transient Astronomer [4] )

Explanation: What's that heading for the Pleiades star cluster? It appears to
be Comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) [5] , but here, appearances are deceiving. On
the right and far in the background [6] , the famous Pleiades star cluster [7]
is dominated by blue light from massive young stars. On the left and visiting
the inner Solar System is Comet PanSTARRS [8] , a tumbling block of ice from
the outer Solar System [9]  that currently sports a long ion tail [10]
dominated by blue [11]  light from an unusually high abundance of ionized
carbon monoxide [12] . Comet PanSTARRS [13]  is actually moving toward the top
of the image [14] , and its ion tail points away from the Sun [15]  but is
affected by a complex solar wind [16]  of particles streaming out from the
Sun. Visible through a small telescope [17] , the comet is fading as it
recedes from the Earth, even though it reaches its closest point to the Sun in
early May.

                    Tomorrow's picture: orbiting car [18]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1802/BlueCometPleiades_Masterson_5407.jpg
  [3] https://www.flickr.com/people/112501172@N04/
  [4] https://www.facebook.com/transientastro/
  [5] https://theskylive.com/c2016r2-info
  [6] ap170123.html
  [7] ap091014.html
  [8] http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=C%2F2016%20R2
  [9] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/
  [10]
http://hubblesite.org/reference_desk/faq/answer.php.id=19&cat=solarsystem
  [11] ap180112.html
  [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide
  [13] ap180118.html
  [14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMMcW32QY5Q
  [15] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/
  [16] https://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SolarWind.shtml
  [17] http://www.thedistractionnetwork.com/images/smart-dogs-192.jpg
  [18] ap180213.html
  [19] ap180211.html
  [20] archivepix.html
  [21] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [22] lib/aptree.html
  [23] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [24] calendar/allyears.html
  [25] /apod.rss
  [26] lib/edlinks.html
  [27] lib/about_apod.html
  [28] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180212
  [29] ap180213.html
  [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [32] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [33] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [34] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [35] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [36] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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