Comet McNaught Over New Zealand
影像提供與版權: Minoru Yoneto
Explanation:
Comet McNaught is perhaps the most photogenic comet of our time. After making quite a show in the northern hemisphere in mid January, the comet moved south and developed a long and unusual dust tail that dazzled southern hemisphere observers starting in late January. Comet McNaught was imaged two weeks ago between Mount Remarkable and Cecil Peak in this spectacular image taken from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand. The bright comet dominates the right part of the above image, while the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy dominates the left. Careful inspection of the image will reveal a meteor streak just to the left of the comet. Comet McNaught continues to move out from the Sun and dim, but should remain visible in southern skies with binoculars through the end of this month.
說明:
麥克諾特彗星可能是我們一生中見過最亮的彗星了。一月中，在北半球秀過身影之後，一月底它便飛往南半球，長出很特別的彗尾，使南半球的觀測者驚嘆不已。這張麥克諾特彗星的照片是兩個星期之前，在紐西蘭 南島 皇后鎮的卓越山 (Mount Remarkable) 與塞西爾峰 (Cecil Peak)之間拍攝的。在上圖中，明亮的彗星主宰了右半邊的視野，左半邊則是明亮的銀河 中心部份所盤據。如果你更仔細地看這張照片，可以看到有一顆流星劃過彗星的左邊。麥克諾特彗星 仍持續往南方移動，亮度也越來越暗，但在這個月底前，南半球的民眾仍可以透過雙筒望遠鏡看見它。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
