NASA NEOWISE Mission Captures Series of Images of Comet PanSTARRS

NASA has caught comet Pan-STARRS in action. The NEOWISE mission captured a series of pictures of the comet, also known as C/2012 K1, as it swept across the sky in May 2014.

The comet is actually named after an astronomical survey project called the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in Hawaii. This survey discovered the comet first in May 2012. Since then, astronomers have trained their observations on the comet in order to learn a bit more about this icy visitor.

Pan-STARRS is originally from the outer fringes of our solar system from a distant reservoir of comets known as the Oort cloud. The comet is actually relatively close to us. In fact, it was only about 143 million miles from Earth when NEOWISE snapped the series of photos. In the images, you can see the comet passing a distant spiral galaxy, called NGC 3726, which is about 55 million light-years from Earth.

What's interesting is that this comet doesn't just have one tail; it has two tails. The bigger tail consists of gas and smaller particles. The fainter and harder-to-spot tail may be composed of larger and more dispersed grains of dust.

Pan-STARRS is currently on its way around the sun, and its closest approach to our nearest star will occur in late August. The comet itself was actually visible to viewers in the northern hemisphere through most of June. Once fall hits, the comet will swing back around the sun and may be visible in the southern hemisphere with the use of small telescopes.

The findings reveal a bit more about this comet, and also highlight NEOWISE's capabilities. This spacecraft has the mission of identifying populations of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. More specifically, it categorizes previously known asteroids and comets in order to better understand their sizes and compositions.