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Explanation: By January 19/20 Comet McNaught's magnificent dust tail stretched for about 150 million kilometers (~1 AU), requiring images from both southern and northern hemispheres of planet Earth to take it all in. Two such views - from Cerro Paranal in Chile (left) and the Carnic Alps in Italy - are combined in this unique graphic that also outlines a perspective view of the comet's orbit (dotted line) and relative position of the Sun. Driven by solar radiation pressure the dust tail initially points away from the Sun, but also trails outside the comet's orbit. Astronomers try to account for the complex structure along the tail, including the pronounced striations, by considering forces acting on the dust (e.g. gravity, solar wind and radiation) as well as the release time and size of the dust grains. In the diagram, the modeled location of dust grains released at approximately the same time relative to perihelion passage, synchrones, are shown as dashed lines. The location of grains of similar size, syndynes, are shown as solid lines.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Comet McNaught - comet tail - dust
Publications with words: Comet McNaught - comet tail - dust
See also:
- APOD: 2024 March 26 Á Comet Pons Brooks Ion Tail
- APOD: 2024 January 29 Á The Pleiades: Seven Dusty Sisters
- NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
- APOD: 2023 August 27 Á Three Galaxies and a Comet
- The Dark Seahorse in Cepheus
- APOD: 2023 February 19 Á Seven Dusty Sisters in Infrared
- APOD: 2023 January 9 Á Tails of Comet ZTF