                        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 October 27

                           Encke and the Tadpoles
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

   Explanation: History's second known periodic comet is Comet Encke
   (2P/Encke). As it swings through the inner Solar System, Encke's orbit
   takes it from an aphelion, its greatest distance from the Sun, inside
   the orbit of Jupiter to a perihelion just inside the orbit of Mercury.
   Returning to its perihelion every 3.3 years, Encke has the shortest
   period of the Solar System's major comets. Comet Encke is also
   associated with (at least) two annual meteor showers on planet Earth,
   the North and South Taurids. Both showers are active in late October
   and early November. Their two separate radiants lie near bright star
   Aldebaran in the head-strong constellation Taurus. A faint comet, Encke
   was captured in this telescopic field of view imaged on the morning of
   August 24. Then, Encke's pretty greenish coma was close on the sky to
   the young, embedded star cluster and light-years long, tadpole-shaped
   star-forming clouds in emission nebula IC 410. Now near bright star
   Spica in Virgo Comet Encke passed its 2023 perihelion only five days
   ago, on October 22.

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