多罗迈山脉上空的紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星

多罗迈山脉上空的紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas over the Dolomites
Credit & Copyright: Alessandra Masi

Explanation: Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is now headed back to the outer Solar System. The massive dusty snowball put on quite a show during its trip near the Sun, resulting in many impressive pictures from planet Earth during October. The featured image was taken in mid-October and shows a defining visual feature of the comet — its impressive anti-tail. The image captures Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) with impressively long dust and ion tails pointing up and away from the Sun, while the strong anti-tail — composed of more massive dust particles — trails the comet and points down and (nearly) toward the recently-set Sun. In the foreground is village of Tai di Cadore, Italy, with the tremendous Dolomite Mountains in the background. Another comet, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), once a candidate to rival Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas in brightness, broke up last week during its close approach to our Sun.

Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in 2024
Tomorrow’s picture: open space

多罗迈山脉上空的紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星
影像提供与版权: Alessandra Masi

说明: 紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星在返回太阳系外围的途中。这颗庞大的脏雪球，在运行到太阳附近的时，表现非常精彩，让地球上的人们，在今年10月期间，拍下了许多令人印象深刻的照片。这幅摄于10月中旬的主题影像，呈现了此彗星的视觉特征，亦即它令人印象深刻的反彗尾。这张影像捕捉到紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星（C/2023 A3），指离太阳、向上方伸展的颀长的尘尾和离子尾，以及坠在彗星后方，由较重的尘埃微粒组成的、几乎朝下直指落日的鲜明反彗尾。影像前景则是意大利的Tai di Cadore村，其后方有高耸的多罗迈山脉。另一颗彗星C/2024 S1 (ATLAS)，曾被视为或许亮度会堪与紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星媲美的新彗星，不过，它上星期在接近太阳时崩解了。

不断增长的画廊: 2024年的紫金山-阿特拉斯彗星
明日的图片: open space