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APOD: 2025 December 30 – An Artificial Comet

APOD: 2025 December 30 – An Artificial Comet

30 de julho de 2026
há cerca de 1 hora
APOD: 2025 December 30 – An Artificial Comet

APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

A star filled sky shows bands of green and purple sky glow. In the foreground is a grassy field with clouds on the horizon. Most remarkably, a series of short streaks appear like a comet's tail up from the horizon toward the upper left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

An Artificial Comet

Explanation: Yes, but can your comet tail do this? No, and what you are seeing is not the tail of a comet . The picture features a cleverly overlayed time-lapse sequence of a group of satellites orbiting Earth together in June. Specifically, these are Starlink communications satellites in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight before sunrise to Inner Mongolia , China . Although the satellites appear to the human eye as points, the 20-second-long camera exposures caused them to appear as short streaks . Currently there are over 9000 Starlinks in orbit , with more being launched nearly every week. Other satellite constellations are also being planned.

Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

Date December 30, 2025
Credit Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Chao
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.

NASA

Agência Espacial Americana

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