Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. A Comet and a Crab Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]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), [5]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 [6]67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, also known as Rosetta's comet. In the 21st century, it became the final resting place of [7]robots from planet Earth. Rosetta's comet is [8]now returning to the inner solar system, sweeping toward its next perihelion or closest approach to the Sun, on November 2. [9]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 __________________________________________________________________ [10]< | [11]Archive | [12]Submissions | [13]Index | [14]Search | [15]Calendar | [16]RSS | [17]Education | [18]About APOD | [19]Discuss | [20]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [21]Robert Nemiroff ([22]MTU) & [23]Jerry Bonnell ([24]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [25]Specific rights apply. [26]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [27]ASD at [28]NASA / [29]GSFC & [30]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2110/67p_m1_vdb47.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://mtanous.wordpress.com/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-1-the-crab-nebula 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/67P/Churyumov%E2%80%93Gerasimenko 7. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/rosetta-philae/in-depth/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210910.html 9. https://theskylive.com/67p-info 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211021.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 14. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 19. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211022 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211023.html 21. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 24. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 26. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 27. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 28. https://www.nasa.gov/ 29. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 30. http://www.mtu.edu/