October 15, 2024
Your birthday is not just a date on a calendar. It is the yearly return of a moment when the universe became more observant, more feeling,...
Animation: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Tails Prediction
Birthday · October 15, 2024
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published October 15, 2024 · Video still. Credit: Nico Lefaudeux. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Behind the image
Animation: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Tails Prediction
Original APOD · October 15, 2024 ↗How bright and strange will the tails of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS become? The comet has brightened dramatically over the few weeks as it passed its closest to the Sun and, just three days ago, passed its closest to the Earth. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) became of the brightest comets of the past century over the past few days, but was unfortunately hard to see because it was so nearly superposed on the Sun. As the comet appears to move away from the Sun, it is becoming a remarkable sight -- but may soon begin to fade. The featured animated video shows how the comet's tails have developed, as viewed from Earth, and gives one prediction about how they might further develop. As shown in the video, heavier parts of the dust tail that trails the comet have begun to appear to point in nearly the opposite direction from lighter parts of the dust tail as well as the comet's ion tail, the blue tail that is pushed directly out from the Sun by the solar wind. Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024
Image credit: Nico Lefaudeux