Subj : Daily APOD Report To : All From : Ben Ritchey Date : Sun Oct 21 2018 08:32:33 Astronomy Picture of the Day Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2018 October 21 [2] Meteor, Comet, and Seagull (Nebula) Image Credit & Copyright: Takao Sambommatsu [3] Explanation: A meteor, a comet, and a photogenic nebula have all been captured in this single image. The closest and most fleeting is the streaking meteor on the upper right -- it was visible for less than a second. The meteor, which disintegrated in Earth's atmosphere, was likely a small bit of debris [4] from the nucleus [5] of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner [6] , coincidentally the comet captured in the same image. Comet 21P, pictured across the inner Solar System [7] from Earth, is distinctive for its long dust tail spread horizontally across the image center. This comet [8] has been visible with binoculars for the past few months but is now fading [9] as it heads back out to the orbit of Jupiter. Farthest out at 3,500 light years distant is the IC 2177, the Seagull Nebula [10] , visible on the left. The comparatively vast Seagull Nebula [11] , with a wingspan on order 250 light-years [12] , will likely remain visible for hundreds of thousands of years. Long exposures, taken about two weeks ago from Iwaki-City [13] in Japan [14] , were combined to capture the image's faintest elements. You, too, could see a meteor like this -- and perhaps sooner [15] than you might think: tonight is the peak of the Orionids [16] meteor shower [17] . Tomorrow's picture: lunar shake down ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- < [18] | Archive [19] | Submissions [20] | Index [21] | Search [22] | Calendar [23] | RSS [24] | Education [25] | About APOD [26] | Discuss [27] | > [28] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [29] (MTU [30] ) & Jerry Bonnell [31] (UMCP [32] ) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [33] . NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [34] A service of: ASD [35] at NASA [36] / GSFC [37] & Michigan Tech. U. [38] ---------- Site notes: [1] archivepix.html [2] image/1810/CometMeteorNebula_TSam_5310.jpg [3] mailto: bluemolecularcloud @at@ gmail .dot. com [4] ap111019.html [5] ap160202.html [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21P/Giacobini%E2%80%93Zinner [7] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/in-depth/ [8] ap180918.html [9] http://195.209.248.207/en/observation/listObserv/257 [10] ap180316.html [11] ap161215.html [12] https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ [13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48-bMQPkxiY [14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan [15] https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/animaljam/images/e/e1/Surprised_cat.png/ revision/latest?cb=20150603175417 [16] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/small-bodies/meteors-and-meteorites/orionids/ in-depth/ [17] https://www.space.com/34373-orionid-meteor-shower-guide.html [18] ap181020.html [19] archivepix.html [20] lib/apsubmit2015.html [21] lib/aptree.html [22] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search [23] calendar/allyears.html [24] /apod.rss [25] lib/edlinks.html [26] lib/about_apod.html [27] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=181021 [28] ap181022.html [29] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ [31] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html [32] http://www.astro.umd.edu/ [33] lib/about_apod.html#srapply [34] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html [35] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [36] https://www.nasa.gov/ [37] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ [38] http://www.mtu.edu/ --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A39 (Windows/32) * Origin: FIDONet - The Positronium Repository (1:393/68) .