April 4, 2024
Another birthday means another year in which the universe got to experience itself through your particular combination of wonder and will.
Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
Birthday · April 4, 2024
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APOD published April 4, 2024. Credit: Dan Bartlett. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
In dark evening skies over June Lake, northern hemisphere, planet Earth, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks stood just above the western horizon on March 30. Its twisted turbulent ion tail and diffuse greenish coma are captured in this two degree wide telescopic field of view along with bright yellowish star Hamal also known as Alpha Arietis. Now Pons-Brooks has moved out of the northern night though, approaching perihelion on April 21. On April 8 you might still spot the comet in daytime skies. But to do it, you will have to stand in the path of totality and look away from the spectacle of an alluring solar corona and totally eclipsed Sun. NASA Coverage: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 April 8
Image credit: Dan Bartlett