Subj : Daily APOD Report To : All From : Ben Ritchey Date : Tue Feb 19 2019 10:49:45 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. 2019 February 19 Comet Iwamoto Before Spiral Galaxy NGC 2903 Video Credit & Copyright: Norbert Span [2] Explanation: It isn't every night that a comet passes a galaxy. Last Thursday, though, binocular comet C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) [3] moved nearly in front of a spiral galaxy of approximately the same brightness: NGC 2903 [4] . Comet Iwamoto [5] was discovered late last year and orbits the Sun [6] in a long ellipse [7] . It last visited the inner Solar System during the Middle Ages [8] , around the year 648. The comet [9] reached its closest point to the Sun -- between Earth and Mars -- on February 6, and its closest point to Earth [10] a few days ago, on February 13. The featured time-lapse video [11] condenses almost three hours into about ten seconds, and was captured last week from Switzerland [12] . At that time Comet Iwamoto [13] , sporting a green coma [14] , was about 10 light minutes distant, while spiral galaxy NGC 2903 [15] remained about 30 million light years [16] away. Two satellites zip diagonally through the field about a third of the way through the video. Typically, a few comets [17] each year become as bright as Comet Iwamoto [18] .. Tomorrow's picture: a dangerous star ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- < [19] | Archive [20] | Submissions [21] | Index [22] | Search [23] | Calendar [24] | RSS [25] | Education [26] | About APOD [27] | Discuss [28] | > [29] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [30] (MTU [31] ) & Jerry Bonnell [32] (UMCP [33] ) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [34] . NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [35] A service of: ASD [36] at NASA [37] / GSFC [38] & Michigan Tech. U. [39] ---------- Site notes: [1] archivepix.html [2] https://www.facebook.com/norbert.span.1 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2018_Y1_(Iwamoto) [4] ap150410.html [5] https://www.universetoday.com/141385/comet-y1-iwamoto-tops-out-in-february/ [6] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/in-depth/ [7] https://www.intmath.com/plane-analytic-geometry/ellipse-interactive.php [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages [9] https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/c-2018-y1-iwamoto-jan-feb-2019 [10] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/in-depth/ [11] https://www.facebook.com/norbert.span.1/posts/999275483604179 [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland [13] ap190209.html [14] ap160605.html [15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2903 [16] https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ [17] ap170923.html [18] https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/comet-iwamoto-ascends-and-brightens/ [19] ap190218.html [20] archivepix.html [21] lib/apsubmit2015.html [22] lib/aptree.html [23] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search [24] calendar/allyears.html [25] /apod.rss [26] lib/edlinks.html [27] lib/about_apod.html [28] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190219 [29] ap190220.html [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ [32] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html [33] http://www.astro.umd.edu/ [34] lib/about_apod.html#srapply [35] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html [36] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [37] https://www.nasa.gov/ [38] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ [39] http://www.mtu.edu/ --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 (Windows/32) * Origin: FIDONet - The Positronium Repository (1:393/68) .