Comet PANSTARRS and the Andromeda Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright:
Pavel Smilyk
Currently, comet PANSTARRS is passing nearly in front of the galaxy Andromeda.
Coincidentally, both
comet and galaxy appear now to be just about the same
angular size.
In physical size, even though
Comet PANSTARRS is currently the largest object in the
Solar System with a tail spanning about 15 times the diameter of
the Sun, it is still about 70 billion times
smaller than the
Andromeda galaxy (M31).
The above image
was captured on March 30, near
Syktyvkar,
Russia.
As C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) on the lower left
recedes from the Sun and dims, it is
returning to the northerly direction
whence it came.
When
the comet
will return is currently unknown, although
humans may have merged with computers by then.