Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Astronomers studying Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann back in 1995 watched in amazement as

the comet began to break in two. Unfortunately, the comet was over 150 million miles away… and even the most powerful telescopes could not get a really clear view of the event.

Things will be different this time around. In May, the cometary fragments will pass within 6 million miles (about 25x the distance to the Moon). Virtually every telescope on the planet (and above) will be imaging the comet in the later

stages of its life. The comet is currently visible to backyard astronomers at about mag 10 and will (hopefully) brighten to naked eye visibility by the end of the month. Checkout Science@NASA for more details. This beautiful shot was taken by Tristan DiLapo of Colden, New York