Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2020 July 17
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

NEOWISE of the North
Image Credit & Copyright: Bill Peters

Explanation: After local midnight on July 14 comet NEOWISE was still above the horizon for Goldenrod, Alberta, Canada, just north of Calgary, planet Earth. In this snapshot it makes for an awesome night with dancing displays of the northern lights. The long-tailed comet and auroral displays are beautiful apparitions in the north these days. Both show the influence of spaceweather and the wind from the Sun. Skygazers have widely welcomed the visitor from the Oort cloud, though C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is in an orbit that is now taking it out of the inner Solar System.

Comet NEOWISE Images: July 16 | July 15 | July 14 | July 13 | July 12 | July 11 | July 10 & earlier
Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend

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