Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Fri Jan 24 2025 01:00:52

                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 January 24

                   Comet G3 ATLAS: a Tail and a Telescope
       Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas
                             Observatory, TWAN)

   Explanation: Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS has made a dramatic appearance in
   planet Earth's skies. A visitor from the distant Oort Cloud, the comet
   reached its perihelion on January 13. On January 19, the bright comet
   was captured here from ESO Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert in
   Chile. Sporting spectacular sweeping dust tails, this comet ATLAS is
   setting in the southern hemisphere twilight and was clearly visible to
   the unaided eye. In the foreground is the closed shell of one of the
   observatory's famous auxiliary telescopes. Still wowing southern
   hemisphere observers, the comet's bright coma has become diffuse, its
   icy nucleus apparently disintegrating following its close approach to
   the Sun.

                      Growing Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)
                        Tomorrow's picture: stardust
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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