彗星之尾：維爾霍什
Tails of Comet Wierzchoś
來源：José J. Chambó;
Text:
Cecilia Chirenti
(NASA
GSFC,
UMCP,
CRESST II)｜發表日期：2026-02-17
有些彗星是太陽系鄰域的常客；另一些則僅造訪一次，永不歸來。我們再無機會目睹C/ 2024 E 1 （維爾喬什）彗星——這顆正穿越內太陽系的天體。其雙曲線軌道表明，它很可能成為一顆星際航海家。 維爾喬什彗星今日正接近其近日點，與地球的距離約等於地球與太陽的距離。這張 30 分鐘曝光的照片攝於上週智利，展現了長達 5 度的離子尾以及三條較短的塵埃尾。彗發呈現的綠色調源於二碳分子在陽光作用下分解，但該過程持續時間不足以使彗尾也染上綠色。 畫面最右側的螺旋星系NGC 300 ，是遙遠宇宙深處的一顆星系。
原文：Some comets are regular guests of our solar neighborhood; others come by only once, never to return. We won’t have another chance to see Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchoś), which is currently making its way through the inner Solar System. The hyperbolic orbit of this comet indicates that it will likely become an interstellar traveler. Comet Wierzchoś is today near its closest approach to the Earth, passing roughly the same distance from the Earth as is the Sun. The featured 30-minute exposure was taken last week in Chile and shows a 5-degree long ion tail as well as three shorter dust tails. The green hue of the coma comes from the breakdown of dicarbon molecules by sunlight, but that process does not last long enough to also tinge the tails. On the far right lies a spiral galaxy far in the distance: NGC 300.
※ 本文由萌芽機器人自動轉貼自每日一天文圖（Astronomy Picture of the Day，APOD），原文為英文，正體中文是透過 DeepL 翻譯及 OpenCC 進行自動處理，內容僅供參考，若有任何錯誤之處還請見諒！
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