APOD - Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way

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.

2025 November 25
A night skyscape is shown over snowcapped mountains. On the left is the band of the Milky Way Galaxy, while on the right is a bright comet with two tails -- a white tail going up and trailing to the right and a longer blue tail going up and trailing off to the left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Lin Zixuan (Tsinghua U.)

Explanation: What did Comet Lemmon look like when it was at its best? One example is pictured here, featuring three celestial spectacles all at different distances. The closest spectacle is the snowcapped Meili Mountains, part of the Himalayas in China. The middle marvel is Comet Lemmon near its picturesque best early this month, showing not only a white dust tail trailing off to the right but its blue solar wind-distorted ion tail trailing off to the left. Far in the distance on the left is the magnificent central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, featuring dark dust, red nebula, and including billions of Sun-like stars. Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is already fading as it heads back into the outer Solar System, while the Himalayan mountains will gradually erode over the next billion years. The Milky Way Galaxy, though, will live on -- forming new mountains and comets -- for many billions of years into the future.

Tomorrow's picture: huge ball of stars

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