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Old 04-08-2015, 12:53 AM
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andyc (Andy)
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The many tails of Comet PanSTARRS

Who would've thought one comet could have so many tails?

Three thin gas tail streamers streak to the upper left, two of them like prominent searchlight beams. The lower of which is composed of two parts, the main central long gas tail has a bright patch at the upper left (from a tail disconnection event?), and there is a short streak of a third gas streamer near the nucleus.

A broad dust tail composed of two overlapping envelopes points in the same direction, wrapped around the gas tails. And another dust tail points at right-angles to the upper right, before sweeping upwards away from the comet.

Stars are trailed due to the comet's motion, and the field is about 1 degree tall (twice the Moon's width). 100 x 15 seconds, 150mm Newtonian and EOS 60D, taken on 21st July.

A larger version is here.

A larger version of the nucleus closeup is here.
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