                        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
    A night sky filled with lines and dashed-lines appears above a hilly
     landscape featuring a distant lit-up tower. Near the center of the
     image is a comet shown by its small green coma and ion tail to the
   upper right. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                 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 hemispheree 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
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

