Astronomers capture amazing photos of comet 21P

The comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner came closer to Earth when the object plummeted around the sun in September, and astrophotographers around the world photographed incredible photos of the "snowball" "of a bright green in the deep space.

The periodic comet moves around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit that brings the object closer to the Earth about once every 6.6 years. When it travels through the solar system, the comet leaves behind a trail of debris. Each October, the Earth crosses with this trail of debris, and these "crumbs of comets" rain down on the planet. This annual event is known as Draconid meteor shower. This year, the meteor shower will reach its highest point tonight and early Tuesday (October 8th and 9th).

Comet 21P reached perihelion – or the point of its orbit closest to the sun – on September 10 at 2:40 am EDT (6:40 GMT), just minutes after arriving at its closest approach to the Earth . Because comets are icy objects, they become more apparent as they get closer to the sun as they heat, melt ice, and release dust and gases into space. While the Comet 21P was brighter than most comets, it was too weak to be spotted without using binoculars or telescopes. [Amazing Photos: The Comets 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and 46P/Wirtanen of 2018]

In the accelerated video above, you can follow Comet 21P as it passes through the open Messier 35 star group (also called M35 or NGC 2168). Messier 35 is a group of stars located approximately 2,800 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini.

Steven Bellavia, astrophotographer of the Amateur Observers' Society of New York, captured the video of comet 21P with M35 on September 15, 2018, five days after comet 21P reached its perihelion.

In Payson, Arizona, astrophotographer Chris Schur also took advantage of the starry backdrop provided by M35 as the Comet 21P passed in front of the star group. Schur captured the above photo on September 15, 2018 at 14:44 local time (0844 GMT), when Comet 21P was about 59 million kilometers from Earth.

"A really rare imaging opportunity this morning," Schur told Space.com in an email. "The comet went through Messier 's M35 star cluster and realized a magnificent composition.The other star cluster of the field is a background object, yellowed by its distance of 10 times further. "

The next day, September 16, astrophotographer John Chumack photographed the comet filmed by the brilliant star Propus (also called Eta Geminorum) in Gemini. The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443), located near the bottom of the frame, and the Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174), on the right, are also visible in this image.

Chumack captured this 16-minute exposure with the help of a Canon 6D DSLR camera with a telephoto zoom of 300 millimeters. He hoped to capture a longer exposure, but clouds slipped and cut short his imaging session, Chumack told Space.com. "But I think it was just enough to complete the picture," he said. "I like to shoot with my telephoto lens for this kind of wide angle shots and big sky."

In another view of comet 21P, this one captured by astrophotographer Michał Kałużny three weeks before the object reaches perihelion, you can see two separate tails as the comet crosses the constellation camelopardalis.

The wider of these two tails is dust, while the other is "a weaker tail of partially overlapping ions," according to Sky & Telescope. These two tails are not always easy to discern and often appear as a big blur.

On September 11, comet 21P passed near star cluster Messier 37 (also known as NGC 2099) in the modern constellation Auriga. The astrophotographer Alex Babiuc captured the comet with the star cluster on the photo above by combining 30 exposures of 120 seconds each.

Comet 21P is returning to the solar system and is becoming increasingly difficult to spot. But if you miss it, do not worry! The even brighter 46P / Wirtanen comet is now heading towards us and should offer spectacular views by mid-December, even without the help of telescopes or binoculars.

Editor's note: If you are capturing an amazing photo of comet 21P / Giacobini Zinner or 46P / Wirtanen and would like to share it with Space.com and our press partners for a possible story or gallery, contact the director of the publication , Tariq Malik, at spacephotos @ space .com.

Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her. @hannekescience. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.