Detail View: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection: Comet and Aurora Over Alaska
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Title:
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Comet and Aurora Over Alaska
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Explanation:
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Can you spot the comet? Flowing across the frozen Alaskan [ http://www.state.ak.us/ ] landscape is an easily visible, colorful aurora. Just to the lower left, however, well in the background, is something harder to spot: Comet Ikeya-Zhang [ http://cometography.com/lcomets/2002c1.html ], the brightest comet of recent years. Although the aurora [ http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/ ] faded in minutes, the comet [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/icq/CometMags.html#2002C1 ] is just now beginning to fade [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2002C1.html ]. It remains just barely visible [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] without aid, however, before sunrise in the East. The comet is actually a giant dirt-covered snowball [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010926.html ] that spends most of its time in the outer Solar System [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020214.html ] -- to where it is now returns. The above photograph [ http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/comets/gallery_iz_pg7.html ] was taken on March 20 when Comet Ikeya-Zhang [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020318.html ] was near its brightest. Careful inspection of the photo will uncover several other sky delights, including the giant galaxy M31 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991114.html ].
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Credit and Copyright:
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Dennis Mammana [ http://www.skyscapes.com/AboutPho.htm ] (Skyscapes [ http://www.skyscapes.com/ ])
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keyword:
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Alaska
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facet_where:
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Alaska
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facet_what:
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Aurora
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original url:
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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020422.html
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap020422
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