Astronomy Picture of the Day · December 25, 2021

The Tail of a Christmas Comet

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 25, 2021 is “The Tail of a Christmas Comet,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri and Lukas Demetz). The original explanation runs about 143 words.

From the explanation

“The tail of a comet streams across this three degree wide telescopic field of view captured under dark Namibian skies on December 21. In outburst only a few days ago and just reaching naked eye visibility Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) is this year’s brightest comet.”

— APOD editors, December 25, 2021

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date: December 25, 2021
Type: Image
Credit: Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri and Lukas Demetz
Copyright: Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length: About 143 words

All of December 2021 → · 2021 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Comets

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 25 in other years

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Source

Astronomy Picture of the Day, December 25, 2021 — science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2021-december-25-the-tail-of-a-christmas-comet

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.