                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                                2020 July 20

                          Comet NEOWISE and Nebulae
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Jarek Oszywa

   Explanation: Would you brave wild animals to photograph this sky? One
   astrophotographer did -- and we all get to reap the rewards. First,
   thousands of stars were visible with many of the brightest impressively
   blue. Next, several red-glowing nebulae were discernible, including the
   California Nebula on the far right, and, above it, the Heart and Soul
   nebulae. But the real reason to brave the local wildlife was Comet
   NEOWISE, visible on the left. In the featured long-duration composite
   taken last week, Comet NEOWISE's blue-glowing ion tail points straight
   up, away from the rising Sun, while the Sun-reflecting dust tail trails
   off toward the right. The picture combines three exposures taken
   consecutively over 10 minutes from the same location near Miedzygórze,
   Poland. A moonlit dirt road shows the path ahead, while the Snieznik
   Mountains is visible on the horizon. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) passes
   its closest to the Earth next week, after which the 5-km wide,
   evaporating, icy dirtball will fade as it glides back to the outer
   Solar System.

   Notable Images of Comet NEOWISE Submitted to APOD: July || 19 || 18 ||
          17 || 16 || 15 || 14 || 13 || 12 || 11 || 10 & earlier ||
                       Tomorrow's picture: not NEOWISE
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