庞斯-布鲁克斯彗星的离子尾巴
(原标题: Comet Pons-Brooks' Ion Tail)
2024-03-26
浏览次数: 12
彗星庞斯-布鲁克斯有很多尾巴要讲。首次发现于1385年，这个爆发的脏雪球每71年绕回我们的太阳系内部，这一次，它开始上演一场深曝光的表演。在这张特色图片中，淡蓝色的流是由带电分子组成的离子尾巴，这些带电分子被太阳风从彗星的核心推离。由太阳风和彗星核心的旋转形成的离子尾巴总是指向远离太阳的方向。现在，用双筒望远镜可以看到彗星12P/ Pons-Brooks在傍晚朝西北方向的天空中，从一个夜晚到另一个夜晚的移动。这颗频繁闪耀的彗星预计将继续变亮，平均而言，甚至可能在白天，在即将到来的4月8日日食的全食路径上，用肉眼就能看到。
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Comet Pons-Brooks has quite a tail to tell. First discovered in 1385, this erupting dirty snowball loops back into our inner Solar System every 71 years and, this time, is starting to put on a show for deep camera exposures. In the featured picture, the light blue stream is the ion tail which consists of charged molecules pushed away from the comet's nucleus by the solar wind. The ion tail, shaped by the Sun's wind and the comet's core's rotation, always points away from the Sun. Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks is now visible with binoculars in the early evening sky toward the northwest, moving perceptibly from night to night. The frequently flaring comet is expected to continue to brighten, on the average, and may even become visible with the unaided eye -- during the day -- to those in the path of totality of the coming solar eclipse on April 8.