Christmas comet Lovejoy captured at Paranal

ESO optician Guillaume Blanchard captured this marvellous wide-angle photo of Comet Lovejoy just two days ago on 22 December 2011. Comet Lovejoy has been the talk of the astronomy community over the past few weeks. It was first discovered on 27 November by the Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy and was classified as a Kreutz sungrazer, with its orbit taking it very close to the Sun, passing a mere 140 000 kilometres from the Sun’s surface.

Credit:

G. Blanchard(eso.org/~gblancha)/ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso1153a
Type:Fotografisch
Publicatiedatum:24 december 2011 17:00
Gerelateerde berichten:eso1153
Grootte:3000 x 1800 px

Over het object

Naam:C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)
Type:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet
Categorie:Solar System

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