#comet soho

"Astrophotographer Michael Horn captured this gorgeous view of Comet SOHO in the dark night sky above Wandibindle, Queensland, Australia on May 23rd, 1998. On this date, Comet SOHO was moving against the background of the nebula-rich constellation of Orion. South is up in the picture which shows SOHO's bright head, or coma, and long tail extending past the glowing gas clouds and dark dust lanes of the Flame and Horsehead nebulae. Alnitak, the bright star above and to the right of the cometary coma, is also known as Zeta Orionis, the eastern-most of the three stars in Orion's belt. Southern hemisphere observers reported that Comet SOHO had undergone a dramatic increase in brightness."

"Discovered in May, 1998, with an orbiting solar observatory, bright Comet SOHO had emerged from the Sun's glare. This telephoto picture of the naked-eye comet was taken by astrophotographer Michael Horn after sunset in the western twilight above Lake Samsonvale, Brisbane, Australia, on May 18th, 1998. The comet is seen in the constellation Orion. Its long lovely tail stretches nearly 5 degrees to the bright star Bellatrix, near the top of the image. For southern hemisphere comet watchers, views of Comet SOHO (1998J1) would improve as the month drew to a close and the comet climbed to the south and east on its journey outward bound. In February of 1999, NASA planned to launch the Stardust mission to fly close to a comet and return samples of dust from a comet's tail."

"Staring at the Sun from a vantage point in space, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has enabled the discovery of much about our closest star. It has also been used to discover numerous comets. While not competing with Hale-Bopp, one of SOHO's discovered comets had proved to be bright enough to see with the unaided eye. The May 4th, 1998, discovery image is shown above with an enlarged inset of the comet. This colourised image is from SOHO's solar coronagraph (LASCO), which views the region around the Sun by blocking out the overwhelming sunlight with an occulting disk. The disk is visible near the bottom left, with the Sun's size and position indicated by the white circle. Bright solar wind regions can also be seen along with the planet Mars and a background of stars. The comet itself is just entering the field of view at the upper right of the image. Observers reported that Comet SOHO (1998 J1) had been seen low in the western sky following sunset and was moving south and east, becoming more visible as the month progressed, particularly from the southern hemisphere."