                        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.

                              2023 February 10

                               ZTF meets ATLAS
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Stefan Bemmerl

   Explanation: Fading as it races across planet Earth's northern skies
   comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) shares this telescopic frame with comet C/2022 U2
   (ATLAS). Captured on the night of February 6 from a garden observatory
   in Germany's Bavarian Forest, the starry field of view toward the
   constellation Auriga spans about 2.5 degrees. Discovered by sky survey
   projects in 2022 (the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Asteroid
   Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) these long-period comets are
   outbound, reaching perihelion just last month. The much fainter comet
   ATLAS made its closest approach to our fair planet on January 29 at a
   distance of about 4.6 light-minutes, compared to a mere 2.4
   light-minutes for comet ZTF on February 2. This comet ATLAS lacks the
   well-developed tails of the formerly naked-eye comet ZTF. But both
   comets sport greenish tinted comas, emission from diatomic carbon
   molecules fluorescing in sunlight. Continuing its dash across planet
   Earth's sky, the good-binocular comet ZTF will appear close to bright
   planet Mars tonight.

                      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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