by bystander » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:01 pm
Comets and Shooting Stars Dance Over Paranal
ESO Picture of the Week | 2013 Mar 11
This impressive picture was taken on 5 March 2013 by Gabriel Brammer, one of the
ESO Photo Ambassadors, and shows a sunset view of the Paranal Observatory, featuring two comets that are currently moving across the southern skies. Close to the horizon, on the right-hand side of the image,
Comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS), the brightest of the two, shows a bright tail that is caused mainly by dust reflecting the sunlight. In the centre of the image, just above the right-hand slopes of Cerro Paranal, the greenish coma — a nebulous envelope around the nucleus — of
Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) can be distinguished, followed by a fainter tail. The green colour is a result of the ionisation of gases in the coma by sunlight. You might even be tricked into thinking that there is a third comet visible in this photo, but the bright object whizzing between comets Lemmon and Pan-STARRS is a serendipitous shooting star burning up in the atmosphere at just the right time and in the right place.
Credit: G. Brammer/ESO
Zoomable Image
[url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1310a/][size=120][b][i]Comets and Shooting Stars Dance Over Paranal[/i][/b][/size][/url]
ESO Picture of the Week | 2013 Mar 11
[quote]
[float=left][img3=""]http://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/screen/potw1310a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr][/float]This impressive picture was taken on 5 March 2013 by Gabriel Brammer, one of the [url=http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/partnerships/photo-ambassadors.html][b]ESO Photo Ambassadors[/b][/url], and shows a sunset view of the Paranal Observatory, featuring two comets that are currently moving across the southern skies. Close to the horizon, on the right-hand side of the image, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2011_L4][b]Comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS)[/b][/url], the brightest of the two, shows a bright tail that is caused mainly by dust reflecting the sunlight. In the centre of the image, just above the right-hand slopes of Cerro Paranal, the greenish coma — a nebulous envelope around the nucleus — of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2012_F6_%28Lemmon%29][b]Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)[/b][/url] can be distinguished, followed by a fainter tail. The green colour is a result of the ionisation of gases in the coma by sunlight. You might even be tricked into thinking that there is a third comet visible in this photo, but the bright object whizzing between comets Lemmon and Pan-STARRS is a serendipitous shooting star burning up in the atmosphere at just the right time and in the right place.
[b][i]Credit: G. Brammer/ESO[/i][/b]
[url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1310a/zoomable/][b][i]Zoomable Image[/i][/b][/url] [/quote]