Comet NEOWISE and Nebulae

Explanation: Would you brave wild animals to photograph this sky? One astrophotographer did -- and we all get to reap the rewards. First, thousands of stars were visible with many of the brightest impressively blue. Next, several red-glowing nebulae were discernible, including the California Nebula on the far right, and, above it, the Heart and Soul nebulae . But the real reason to brave the local wildlife was Comet NEOWISE , visible on the left. In the featured long-duration composite taken last week, Comet NEOWISE 's blue-glowing ion tail points straight up, away from the rising Sun , while the Sun-reflecting dust tail trails off toward the right. The picture combines three exposures taken consecutively over 10 minutes from the same location near Miedzygórze , Poland . A moonlit dirt road shows the path ahead, while the Śnieznik Mountains is visible on the horizon. Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) passes its closest to the Earth next week, after which the 5-km wide, evaporating, icy dirtball will fade as it glides back to the outer Solar System .

Notable Images of Comet NEOWISE Submitted to APOD: July || 19 || 18 || 17 || 16 || 15 || 14 || 13 || 12 || 11 || 10 & earlier ||