                        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.

                               2021 October 22

                             A Comet and a Crab
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Mtanous

   Explanation: This pretty field of view spans over 2 degrees or 4 full
   moons on the sky, filled with stars toward the constellation Taurus,
   the Bull. Above and right of center in the frame you can spot the faint
   fuzzy reddish appearance of Messier 1 (M1), also known as the Crab
   Nebula. M1 is the first object in 18th century comet hunter Charles
   Messier's famous catalog of things which are definitely not comets.
   Made from image data captured this October 11, there is a comet in the
   picture though. Below center and left lies the faint greenish coma and
   dusty tail of periodic comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, also known as
   Rosetta's comet. In the 21st century, it became the final resting place
   of robots from planet Earth. Rosetta's comet is now returning to the
   inner solar system, sweeping toward its next perihelion or closest
   approach to the Sun, on November 2. Too faint to be seen by eye alone,
   the comet's next perigee or closest approach to Earth will be November
   12.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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