                        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 May 8
   A starfield appears with three large objects. Near the top is a bright
   star. Near the middle is a small light blue nebula. And near the bottom
    is a comet with its long tail extending to the upper left and passing
        in front of both the star and the blue nebula. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                       Comet R3 PanSTARRS Before Rigel
   Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák & Martin Mašek (FZU of the Czech
                            Academy of Sciences)

   Explanation: Which way is Comet R3 PanSTARRS going? Not towards the
   star at the top of the image, because that is Rigel, which, being far
   in the background, is unrelated to the comet. Not through the nebula in
   the image middle, because that is the Witch Head Nebula and it, too, is
   far in the distance -- but not far from Rigel.  Not into northern skies
   because over the past week Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) has moved into
   southern skies and is now best visible in Earth's Southern Hemisphere
   toward the west after sunset.  Angularly, Comet R3 PanSTARRS is slowly
   moving toward the upper right, night by night, and will soon be in the
   constellation Orion. Spatially, the comet is now headed out of our
   Solar System but should remain visible to cameras in southern skies for
   about a week. The featured image was captured last week near Cerro
   Paranal in Chile.

                 Growing Gallery: Comet R3 PanSTARRS in 2026
                       Tomorrow's picture: stereo Moon
     __________________________________________________________________

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

