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.
2026 April 27
Comet R3 PanSTARRS Behind Satellite Trails
Image Credit & Copyright:
Uli Fehr
Explanation:
Can you find the comet?
Somewhere through this web of satellite trails is Comet
C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS)
, a bright visitor passing
through the inner
Solar System
.
Now, the
orbiting satellites
themselves only
appear as streaks
because of the long camera exposure,
over 10 minutes in this case.
On the contrary,
to the eye
, satellites appear as points that
drift slowly across the night sky and shine by
reflecting sunlight
--
primarily just after sunset and before sunrise.
The featured image was taken just before sunrise two weeks ago from
Bavaria
,
Germany
.
Presently,
Comet R3 PanSTARRS
is hard to see for even another reason --
because it is so (angularly) close to the
Sun
.
As the comet rounds the Sun, it will be
best seen
in coming weeks from
southern hemisphere
e skies, although then it will be
heading out to interstellar space and fading.
If you haven't yet found the comet,
don't despair
; please take a
closer look
just above the image center.
Tomorrow's picture:
cometary mountains
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(
MTU
) &
Jerry Bonnell
(
UMCP
)
NASA Official:
Amber Straughn
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at
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Michigan Tech. U.