          APOD: 2018 February 16 - Comet PanSTARRS is near the Edge

                         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 16
                                      [2]
                      Comet PanSTARRS is near the Edge
              Image Credit & Copyright [3] : JoAnn McDonald [4]

Explanation: The comet PanSTARRS also known as the blue comet [5]  (C/2016 R2)
really is near the lower left edge of this stunning, wide field view recorded
on January 13. Spanning nearly 20 degrees on the sky, the cosmic landscape [6]
 is explored by well-exposed and processed frames from a sensitive digital
camera. It consists of colorful clouds and dusty dark nebulae otherwise too
faint [7]  for your eye to see, though. At top right, the California [8]
Nebula (aka NGC 1499) does have a familiar shape. Its coastline is over 60
light-years long and lies some 1,500 light-years away. The nebula's pronounced
reddish glow is from hydrogen atoms ionized by luminous blue star Xi Persei
just below it. Near bottom center, the famous Pleiades [9]  star cluster is
some 400 light-years distant and around 15 light-years across. Its spectacular
blue color is due to the reflection of starlight by interstellar dust. In
between are hot stars of the Perseus OB2 association and dusty, dark nebulae
[10]  along the edge of the nearby, massive Taurus and Perseus molecular
clouds. Emission from unusually abundant ionized carbon monoxide (CO+)
molecules fluorescing in sunlight is largely responsible for the telltale blue
tint of the remarkable comet's tail [11] . The comet was about 17 light
minutes from Earth [12] .

                      Tomorrow's picture: sky noir [13]

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  [5] ap180118.html
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  [7] ap090411.html
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  [9] ap150617.html
  [10] ap160314.html
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