                        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.

                                2026 April 9

                    Destruction of Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS)
              Video Credit: Brian Day, SOHO, SDO, JHelioviewer
             Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

   Explanation: As the crew of Artemis II travelled towards the Moon this
   week, Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) was expected to have its closest approach
   to the Sun on Monday. At this point, comet and Sun would be closer than
   half the distance separating the Earth and Moon. The comet did not
   survive; the featured video was made with 40 hours of data and shows
   the comet plunging toward the Sun, like a moth to a flame. Observing
   the comet so close to our bright star requires a coronagraph, an
   instrument that blocks the Sun and is used for studies of its corona.
   This composite video combines, starting from the outside, views from:
   the wider angle coronagraph (blue) and the narrower angle coronagraph
   (red), both on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, and NASA's
   Solar Dynamics Observatory (black). We can see the comet approaching
   the sun, stretching, disappearing behind the coronagraph's occulting
   disk and reappearing as a cloud of debris that dissipates.

                    Tomorrow's picture: galactic antennae
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

