Lights With No Sun

The ESA's Rosetta, the first ever spacecraft whose destination is a comet, took this picture of the Earth at night. Large cities are clearly visible as mankind's presence on this planet is clearly visible-- even when the Sun is not.

Rosetta has a super complex trajectory is making its course to comet 67P Rosetta. This includes not one, but three gravity assist maneuvers around Earth and another around Mars. This truly will show how efficient current technology can accurately predict the course of our probes.

Once reaching comet 67P Rosetta, the craft will remain in orbit with the comet during its journey to and from the Sun. In a nutshell, Rosetta will ultimately tell us what comets are made of, why they are different (or the same) as other intersolar materials, and give us a better idea of what the surface of a comet actually looks like.

Interesting mission to be sure, and likely it will present us with new information while verifying what we already know about comets. The study of the origin of comets never looked so sweet... just check out this picture of a very overexposed Mars taken by Rosetta's wide-angle camera against the stunning backdrop of our Milky Way. Every astrophotographers dream--wide angle astrophotography with a twist: no atmosphere!

A Night with the Comet (17P/Holmes)

Our solar system post for Wednesday is an update on an object about 99.9% of all telescopes pointed upward are looking at: Comet 17P/Holmes.

It looks like the comet is still maintaining its current magnitude, and a "fuzziness", often described as nebulous, dust cloud surrounds the yellowish-greenish object. It is east of Mirfak, and nearly as bright, and it is very obviously apparent that it is not a star anymore.

In the following photo, the contrast of the yellowish tint of the comet has been increased digitally to give a more accurate picture of what I saw, rather than what the camera saw. I kept the other stars dim to make its location more apparent.

Here is an unaltered photograph depicting what you can expect through the naked eye.

Comet 17P/Holmes continues to blaze at a very visible 2.8 magnitude and will remain so until it burns its fuel and diminishes in magnitude again. No one knows when the comet will fade, but its very apparent anyone who wants to see 17P/Holmes will have a chance.

Mega Outburst in Comet 17/Holmes

The magnitude 17 comet, Holmes, has experienced a tremendous boost in brightness. It jumped almost instantly from magnitude 17 to magnitude 3, an increase of about one million times brighter!

This makes a near-impossible comet to observe a naked-eye object in Perseus. Slew eastward from Alpha Perseii and you will run across it.

There is a distinct yellowish color to the comet. It is expected to stay bright for at least a week, at which time is will decrease in magnitude slowly until it is invisible, and ultimately, back to its original magnitude of 17.

New reports are putting the comet at a magnitude 2.8, which is brighter than its original magnitude when it was first discovered during an outburst in 1892.

This photo was taken by platarko on the Cloudy Night Forums.

New Galaxy Has Comet-Like Tail

A newly discovered galaxy has a dust trail more than 220,000 light years long.

The dust is planting the "seeds" of new stars.

Ming Sun of Michigan State University, who led the study says, "..it turns out that this is a giant wake of creation, not of destruction." Millions of stars have already been, or are in the process of being, born.

The galaxy, ESO 137-001 , is more than 220 million light years away and is headed towards a cluster of galaxies called Abell 3627.

What the heck is Mira doing?

'Shooting stars' have made a comeback! Mira is hurtling at an astonishing 291,000 mph through the universe, seeding debris that will ultimately cause new stars and solar systems.

This stunning picture is actually a mosaic of several photographs. The "tail" of Mira is nearly 13 light years long. That's the amount of space between Earth and Pluto... 20,000 times!!

Check out the full details of this amazing phenomenon at NASA's official website.