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Credit & Copyright: Nick James, Martin Mobberley and Glyn Marsh,
The Astronomer Online
Explanation:
Comet Hyakutake is
still visible
as it continues its
orbit around the
Sun.
The comet will
brighten
again in late April and early May.
The above
fascinating picture was taken with a three minute exposure. In the
middle of the exposure, the photographer cleverly set off a flash,
momentarily illuminating the foreground tree. The picture was taken on
March 24th from Mount Teide in the
Canary Islands,
and the recorded tail length was over 50 degrees.
Discoverer
Yuji Hyakutake, whose last name means "100 warriors" is an
amateur astronomer in Japan. Interested in comets since age 15,
he discovered this comet while sitting on a rural mountain top
searching dark skies with huge binoculars in early morning hours.
Originally intending to check up on
a comet he had discovered
only one month earlier, Hyakutake was
initially worried that the new fuzzy spot he had
located was not really yet another comet!
One unexpected result of his comet
discovery is that now his family has trouble making phone calls because
their telephone is always ringing.
Information:
The
Scale of the Universe Debate in April 1996
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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 - comet Hyakutake
Publications with words: comet - comet Hyakutake
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 17 Á Total Eclipse and Comets
- APOD: 2024 April 8 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons Brooks
- Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
- APOD: 2024 March 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring
- Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons Brooks
- The Snows of Churyumov Gerasimenko