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. 2023 January 27 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Comet ZTF: Orbital Plane Crossing Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Dan Bartlett Explanation: [5]The current darling of the [6]northern night, Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF is captured in this telescopic image from a dark sky location at June Lake, California. [7]Of course Comet ZTF has been [8]growing brighter in recent days, headed for its closest approach to Earth on February 1. But this view was recorded on January 23, very close to the time planet Earth crossed the orbital plane of [9]long-period Comet ZTF. The comet's broad, whitish dust tail is still curved and [10]fanned out away from the Sun as Comet ZTF sweeps along its orbit. Due to perspective near the [11]orbital plane crossing, components of the fanned out dust tail appear on both sides of the comet's green tinted coma though, to lend Comet ZTF a visually striking (left) [12]anti-tail. [13]Buffeted by solar activity the comet's narrower ion tail also streams away from the coma diagonally to the right, across the nearly three degree wide field of view. Tomorrow's picture: over the mountain __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC, [34]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2301/C2022E3ZTF_2023_01_23_054036PST_DEBartlett.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/h2ologg/ 5. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.172146088847310 6. https://www.petrhoralek.com/?p=23393 7. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/ 8. https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=191771 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/in-depth/#otp_where_do_comets_come_from? 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130330.html 11. http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/2022E3 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130526.html 13. https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=19&month=01&year=2023 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230126.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230127 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230128.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/