03-05-2012, 12:05 AM
Remarkable comet Garradd (C2009/P1) has come to be known for two
distinctive tails. From the perspective of earthbound comet watchers the
tails
are visible on opposite sides of its greenish coma. Seen here
in a telescopic view, the recognizable dust tail fans out to the right,
trailing the comet
nucleus in its orbit. Streaming away from the
sunward direction, a familiar bluish ion tail sweeps to the left. But
the comet also seems to have, at
least temporarily, sprouted a
second ion tail recorded in this image from February 24. Other comet
imagers have recently captured changing structures
in Garradd's ion
tail created as the plasma is buffeted by the magnetic fields in the
solar wind. Now moving more quickly through northern skies, on
March 5th comet Garradd will reach its closest approach to planet Earth, about 10.5 light-minutes distant.
distinctive tails. From the perspective of earthbound comet watchers the
tails
are visible on opposite sides of its greenish coma. Seen here
in a telescopic view, the recognizable dust tail fans out to the right,
trailing the comet
nucleus in its orbit. Streaming away from the
sunward direction, a familiar bluish ion tail sweeps to the left. But
the comet also seems to have, at
least temporarily, sprouted a
second ion tail recorded in this image from February 24. Other comet
imagers have recently captured changing structures
in Garradd's ion
tail created as the plasma is buffeted by the magnetic fields in the
solar wind. Now moving more quickly through northern skies, on
March 5th comet Garradd will reach its closest approach to planet Earth, about 10.5 light-minutes distant.