Feb 11 - Comet Sweeps Closest This Week

February 11 Comet Sweeps Closest This Week by:

View larger at EarthSky Community Photos. | Comet Iwamoto was heading for the Sickle of Leo – a backwards question mark pattern – when caught by Dr. Ski in the Philippines last night. At closest approach, the comet will be in front of Leo, visible late night to dawn now. Comet sweeps closest to Earth this week Fast-moving comet C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) will pass closest to us - 28 million miles away - tomorrow. Monday and Tuesday nights are best for glimpsing the comet, which is now visible with binoculars. Charts and photos here. Just for fun: Tour alien worlds Some fun multimedia from NASA, including (free) Exoplanet Travel Bureau posters, cool 360-degree visualizations, and a journey into the life and death of planetary system, here. Today in science: Spacecraft destroys a sundog When a NASA spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010, it destroyed a sundog in Earth's atmosphere - bringing to light a new form of ice halo - and teaching those who love the sky something new. Click in for the video. Here's NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (bright streak in lower right) lifting off from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010. Something cool is about to happen! Watch.

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For those at southerly latitudes, Canopus! Here's Canopus over Spain's Canary Islands, via Karoline Mrazek and Erwin Matys of Project Nightflight. If you haven't seen it yet, it's time to look. Far-northern skywatchers sometimes travel southward in winter, for a glimpse of this star - the sky's 2nd-brightest star - above the southern horizon. Read more.

Bird friends View at EarthSky Community Photos. | This peaceful image is from Elizabeth Bettenhausen, who wrote: "The late afternoon sun on the central coast of California cooperates with the Great Egret and the Snowy Egret at dinnertime. These two search Santa Rosa Creek together quite often." Thank you, Elizabeth! Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!

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