July 17, 2026
The atoms in your body have known many forms: star core, drifting dust, ocean mineral, living cell.
The Dust Trail of Comet Tempel 2
Birthday · July 17, 2026
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APOD published July 17, 2026. Credit: Dan Bartlett. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Comet 10P/Tempel 2 orbits the Sun once every 5.4 years. Currently visible in binoculars or small telescopes toward the constellation Capricornus, the periodic comet is captured in this sharp telescopic image from July 11 sporting a bright nuclear region and pretty greenish coma. Remarkably, a thin dust trail, not a typical dust tail, is also seen extending both east and west of the Tempel 2 nucleus. Unlike a comet dust tail, which tends to temporarily fan out in a direction away from the Sun, this dust trail is due to the residual dust shed during many past orbits along this ancient periodic comet's orbital plane. In fact, Tempel 2's dust trail may get a little narrower and brighter from our perspective as Earth crosses through the comet's orbital plane on July 20. Comet 10P/Tempel 2 will reach a perihelion on August 2, and make its closest approach to Earth on August 3.
Image credit: Dan Bartlett