Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Comet Pons-Brooks Develops Opposing Tails

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 4, 2024 is “Comet Pons-Brooks Develops Opposing Tails,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri & Lukas Demetz). The original explanation runs about 158 words.

A dark star filled sky is shown with the wisps extending the length of the image. The wisps are the two tails of Comet 12P. A particularly bright star is visible near the bottom of the frame. Please see the explanation for more detailed inf
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri & Lukas Demetz Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Why does Comet Pons-Brooks now have tails pointing in opposite directions? The most spectacular tail is the blue-glowing ion tail that is visible flowing down the image.”

— APOD editors, June 4, 2024

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
June 4, 2024
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri & Lukas Demetz
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 158 words

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Topics in this entry

Comets

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: June 4 in other years

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Source

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.