Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: In 1997, the bright comet Hale-Bopp may have become the most viewed comet in history -- visible even to casual skywatchers in light polluted cities around the globe. In this picture, taken by photographer Joe Orman on the evening of May 8, 1997, Hale-Bopp easily competes with near twilight skies and a shining, over-exposed, crescent moon above Mobile, Arizona, USA. Where is Hale-Bopp now? Still visible to telescopic observers in the Southern Hemisphere, the comet is outbound, presently about 537 million miles from the Sun. (Jupiter orbits at about 480 million miles.) The long lead time provided by the early discovery of Hale-Bopp has allowed extensive observing campaigns producing a bonanza of information about this primordial chunk of our Solar System.

在1997年，明亮的海爾-波普彗星，可能是歷史上有最多觀察記錄的彗星 - 甚至在世界各地有光汙染的城市裡，一般的觀星者也能見到它的身影。 這張照片是由攝影師喬·奧曼在1997年5月8日晚上拍攝的，拍攝的地點在美國亞利桑那州的莫比爾村，其中的海爾-波普彗星能輕易的與明亮的暮光天空、以及過度曝光的蛾眉月爭輝。 如今海爾-波普彗星何在？ 位在南半球的望遠鏡觀星者，仍能見到這顆離我們遠去、距離太陽約860萬公里的彗星（木星軌道半徑約為770萬公里）。 能早期發現海爾-波普彗星，讓觀星者有非常長的時間進行各式各樣的觀測活動，也讓我們獲得攸關這塊太陽系原始碎片的巨量信息。