Venus and Comet Pojmanski
影像版權與提供: Tunc Tezel
Explanation:
Shining brightly in the east at dawn, Venus dominates the sky in this view over a suburban landscape from Bursa, Turkey. An otherwise familiar scene for astronomer Tunc Tezel, his composite picture of the morning sky recorded on March 2nd also includes a surprise visitor to the inner solar system, Comet Pojmanski. Cataloged as C/2006 A1, the comet was discovered on January 2nd by Grzegorz Pojmanski of Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory in Poland. At the time very faint and tracking through southern skies, the comet has now moved north and grown just bright enough to be a good target for early-rising skygazers with binoculars. Enhanced and framed in this picture, the comet's tail has also grown to a length of several degrees. The comet will be at its closest approach to planet Earth, just over 100 million kilometers away, on March 5. For northern hemisphere observers in the next few days, the beginning of morning twilight really will be the best time to spot Comet Pojmanski.
說明:
在土耳其(Turkey)的布爾沙(Bursa)的都市郊區，清晨東方的天空正露著魚肚白， 金星是此時最亮的星體。 這張三月二日所拍攝的照片，有一個次亮的星體，就是造訪內太陽星系的訪客， 彗星Pojmanski。 由波蘭的華沙大學的天文台天文學家(Grzegorz Pojmanski)在一月二日所發現，編號為C/2006 A1的新彗星。 此這張照片的同時，非常暗 的彗星正在南天拉出一條彗尾，彗星現在正不斷向北天的方向移動，並且更亮，是早起的天文愛好者利用雙筒望遠鏡(binoculars)就可看到的目標。 增強照片的影像，也就是框框內所示，你可以看到彗尾的長度約有幾度。 彗星將在三月五日距離地球最近的距離，大於十億公里遠。 對北半球的觀測者，接下來的幾天，在清晨的些許光下，將會是最好的時間觀測彗星 Pojmanski。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
