                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
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                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2026 July 17

                      The Dust Trail of Comet Tempel 2
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

   Explanation: Comet 10P/Tempel 2 orbits the Sun once every 5.4 years.
   Currently visible in binoculars or small telescopes toward the
   constellation Capricornus, the periodic comet is captured in this sharp
   telescopic image from July 11 sporting a bright nuclear region and
   pretty greenish coma. Remarkably, a thin dust trail, not a typical dust
   tail, is also seen extending both east and west of the Tempel 2
   nucleus. Unlike a comet dust tail, which tends to temporarily fan out
   in a direction away from the Sun, this dust trail is due to the
   residual dust shed during many past orbits along this ancient periodic
   comet's orbital plane. In fact, Tempel 2's dust trail may get a little
   narrower and brighter from our perspective as Earth crosses through the
   comet's orbital plane on July 20. Comet 10P/Tempel 2 will reach a
   perihelion on August 2, and make its closest approach to Earth on
   August 3.

                  Tomorrow's picture: the antisolar horizon
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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