Have you ever seen a comet? Comets bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye appear only every few years [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]. Right now, however, a new comet has brightened unexpectedly and is visible as a faint streak [
http://skyandtelesc… ] to the unaided northern observer in the eastern morning sky just before sunrise. Binoculars may help. Comet Pojmanski [
http://www.space.co… ], officially designated C/2006 A1 and discovered only in January, now sports a turquoise tail several times longer than the full moon. Comet Pojmanski [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]'s ion tail [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] is due to gas particles expelled by the comet being pushed away from the Sun by the solar wind [
http://science.msfc… ], the same wind that ionizes gas in the tail causing its blue tint. Pictured above [
http://www.schursas… ] as it appeared only last week, Comet Pojmanski [
http://cfa-www.harv… ] has now begun to fade as its orbit around the Sun takes it [
http://en.wikipedia… ] further from the Earth.
explanation
Have you ever seen a comet? Comets bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye appear only every few years [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040503.html ]. Right now, however, a new comet has brightened unexpectedly and is visible as a faint streak [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1684_1.asp ] to the unaided northern observer in the eastern morning sky just before sunrise. Binoculars may help. Comet Pojmanski [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/060224_night_sky.html ], officially designated C/2006 A1 and discovered only in January, now sports a turquoise tail several times longer than the full moon. Comet Pojmanski [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060303.html ]'s ion tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980717.html ] is due to gas particles expelled by the comet being pushed away from the Sun by the solar wind [ http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/sun_wind.htm ], the same wind that ionizes gas in the tail causing its blue tint. Pictured above [ http://www.schursastrophotography.com/10dastro/pojmansky022706.html ] as it appeared only last week, Comet Pojmanski [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2006A1.html ] has now begun to fade as its orbit around the Sun takes it [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2006_A1_Pojma%C5%84ski ] further from the Earth.
Explanation
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