https://www.spaceweather.com/
THE CROOKED TAIL OF COMET 12P: Something's not right with the tail of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. It's crooked. Astrophotographer Borut Prasnikar captured the phenomenon in this wide angle shot from Blegos, Slovenia:
"Here is the comet with its dynamic tail above Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia," says Prasnikar. "Comet 12P was passing by the Andromeda Galaxy on March 13th when I took the photo, and I was able to capture them both with a 20x30-second exposure."
Why is 12P's tail bent? Researchers call it a "disconnection event," caused by a CME (or fast solar wind stream) hitting the comet. One of the earliest recorded examples of this phenomenon occured in April 2007 when NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft watched a CME strike Comet Encke and rip its tail completely off: movie.
This is just the beginning. Comet 12P is moving toward the sun for a close encounter (0.78 au) on April 21st. The comet is crossing Earth's orbit right now, so it will be closer to the sun than we are for the next 4 weeks. CMEs will be hitting it harder than ever, increasing the odds of additional disconnection events.
more images: from Alan C. Tough of Elgin, Moray, Scotland; from Dave Weixelman of Elk Creek, CA; from Fins Eirexas of Camariñas, Galiza, Iberian Penninsula;
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