Hey, Space Placers!
Comet Nishimura entered the field-of-view of STEREO's inner Heliospheric Imager (HI-1) on September 17th. This movie shows considerable interaction of the comet's ion tail with the solar wind, along with a possible glancing blow from a coronal mass ejection in the September 22-23 timeframe. Toward the end of the movie, at the start of the day on September 23, the comet appears fainter and the movie appears to slow down. This is due to a pre-planned change in the observing mode for a science campaign unrelated to the comet. The HI-1 image cadence is increased from once every 40 minutes to once every 20 minutes, with a corresponding decrease in exposure time.
CREDIT: Karl Battams & NASA STEREO-AKarl has made an absolutely amazing video that you have to see of the Comet and plans to continue to do so while the Sun and Comet play tag so check the STEREO.
Today a NASA astronaut made history by setting a new record as stated by NASA: "After spending an American record-breaking 371 days in space, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio safely landed on Earth with his crewmates Wednesday."
Sky Guy in VA
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