Copyright:Kevin Parker
原文:
After grazing the western horizon on northern summer evenings Comet PanSTARRS (also known as C/2014 Q1) climbed higher in southern winter skies. A visitor to the inner Solar System discovered in August 2014 by the prolific panSTARRS survey, the comet was captured here on July 17. Comet and colorful tails were imaged from Home Observatory in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. The field of view spans just over 1 degree. Sweeping quickly across a the sky this comet PanSTARRS was closest to planet Earth about 2 days later. Still, the faint stars of the constellation Cancer left short trails in the telescopic image aligned to track the comet’s rapid motion. PanSTARRS’ bluish ion tails stream away from the Sun, buffetted by the solar wind. Driven by the pressure of sunlight, its more diffuse yellowish dust tail is pushed outward and lags behind the comet’s orbit. A good target for binoculars from southern latitudes, in the next few days the comet will sweep through skies near Venus, Jupiter, and bright star Regulus.
中文翻譯:
在北半球的夏季黃昏，彗星PanSTARRS（C/2014 Q1）於西方地平線輕輕一掠後，逐漸在南半球的冬季夜空中上升。這顆彗星是在2014年8月由繁忙的panSTARRS調查發現，並於7月17日被捕捉到。畫面中錄下了從澳大利亞昆士蘭州麥凱的家庭觀測站拍攝的彗星及其色彩斑斕的尾巴。畫幅擴展約1度。彗星在天空中快速移動，約在2天後最近距離地球。不過，蟹座的微弱星星在望遠鏡影像中留下了短暫的軌跡，與彗星的迅速運動相對應。PanSTARRS的藍色離子尾巴因太陽風而向外流動，而受到陽光壓力驅動的淡黃色塵埃尾巴則在彗星的軌道後方緩慢延展。在南半球觀察者來說，這顆彗星是一個理想的雙筒望遠鏡觀測對象。在接下來幾天中，這顆彗星將掠過金星、木星和亮星心宿二的附近。
#彗星PanSTARRS #天文觀測 #昆士蘭 #夏季夜空 #蟹座 #金星 #木星 #心宿二 #雙筒望遠鏡 #宇宙之美
來源:NASA每日圖片
