This was
your sky.

Machholz Meets the Pleiades

On January 7, 2005, Comet Machholz swept northward, its long ion tail stretching out with the Pleiades star cluster in the background. This view, recorded with a telephoto lens, emphasizes faint, complex tail structures and the scene's blue and green colors. The comet's ion tail and greenish coma glow as gas molecules fluoresce in sunlight, merging with the blue, dust-reflected starlight of the Pleiades.