Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)
Explanation:
Discovered by the the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project in October of 2002, comet C/2002 T7 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is now visiting the inner solar system, making its closest approach (see animation by L. Koehn [ mailto:zeromagnitude @aol.com ]) to the Sun tomorrow, April 23rd. Emerging from the solar glare, the comet is [ http://www.nineplan…] now just visible to the unaided eye in the constellation Pisces, near the eastern horizon in morning twilight. In this gorgeous telescopic view [ http://www.noao.edu…c-2002t7.html ] recorded before dawn yesterday, the clearly active comet has developed an extensive, complex tail extending [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] over 2 degrees in the anti-sunward direction, and a pronounced anti-tail [ http://encke.jpl.na…] or anomalous tail. Later next month this comet should appear brighter, making its closest approach to planet Earth on May 19th. In fact, it could share southern skies [ http://skyandtelesc…article_1037_1.asp ] with another naked-eye comet, also anticipated to brighten in May, designated C/2001 Q4 (NEAT).
Credit and Copyright:
Svend and Carl Freytag, Adam Block [ mailto:ablock@noao.e du ] (KPNO Visitor Program [ http://www.noao.edu…]),
NOAO [ http://www.noao.edu/], AURA [ http://www.aura-ast…], NSF [ http://www.nsf.gov/]
facet_when:
2002
facet_where:
Lincoln
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Aura
facet_what:
COMETS
facet_what:
Dawn
facet_what:
Pisces
facet_what:
comet
facet_when_year:
2002
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap040422

Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)
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