Thursday, April 16, 2015

Comet PANSTARRS and the Andromeda Galaxy

Comet PANSTARRS and the Andromeda Galaxy: APOD: 2013 April 3 - Comet PANSTARRS and the Andromeda Galaxy


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.

2013 April 3


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Comet PANSTARRS and the Andromeda Galaxy

Image Credit & Copyright: Pavel Smilyk
Explanation: Currently, comet PANSTARRS is passing nearly in front of the galaxy Andromeda. Coincidentally, both comet and galaxy appear now to be just about the same angular size. In physical size, even though Comet PANSTARRS is currently the largest object in the Solar System with a tail spanning about 15 times the diameter of the Sun, it is still about 70 billion times smaller than the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The above image was captured on March 30, near Syktyvkar, Russia. As C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) on the lower left recedes from the Sun and dims, it is returning to the northerly direction whence it came. When the comet will return is currently unknown, although humans may have merged with computers by then.

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