by Case » Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:51 pm
I suppose it could be a galaxy with a superimposed foreground star. The galaxy might be irregular or partly obscured by dark gas.
If it were a comet, it had to be relatively close to the sun to show a tail.
The tail-like streak appears in other photos of NGC 7129/NGC 7142 at the same location, tho' not as prominent as the APOD one. This rules out comets, as comets move pretty fast.
[url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070913.html][img]http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/6259/cometorgalaxype8.jpg[/img][/url]
I suppose it could be a galaxy with a superimposed foreground star. The galaxy might be irregular or partly obscured by dark gas.
If it were a comet, it had to be relatively close to the sun to show a tail.
The tail-like streak appears in other photos of NGC 7129/NGC 7142 at the same location, tho' not as prominent as the APOD one. This rules out comets, as comets move pretty fast.
[url=http://hubble.heim.at/NGC7129-2.htm][img]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/580/cometorgalaxy2fk5.png[/img][/url]