The View Toward M101
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Fritz
Helmut Hemmerich
Sweeping through northern skies, Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) made its
closest approach on January 17, passing about 6 light-minutes
from our fair planet.
Dust and ion tails clearly separated
in this Earth-based view,
the comet is also posed for a
Messier moment, near the line-of-sight
to M101, grand spiral galaxy in Ursa Major.
A cosmic pinwheel
at the lower left, M101 is nearly twice the size of our own
Milky Way galaxy, but some 270 thousand light-centuries away.
Both galaxy and comet are relatively bright, easy targets for
binocular-equipped skygazers.
But Comet Catalina
is now outbound from the inner
Solar System
and will slowly fade in coming months.
This
telescopic two panel mosaic spans about 5 degrees (10 Full Moons)
on the sky.