                        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.

                               2024 December 6

                        Xuyi Station and the Fireball
           Image Credit & Copyright: Hao Liu (Stanford University)

   Explanation: Colorful and bright, this streaking fireball meteor was
   captured in a single exposure taken at Purple Mountain (Tsuchinshan)
   Observatory’s Xuyi Station in 2020, during planet Earth's annual
   Perseid meteor shower. The dome in the foreground houses the China Near
   Earth Object Survey Telescope (CNEOST), the largest multi-purpose
   Schmidt telescope in China. Located in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province,
   the station began its operation as an extension of China's Purple
   Mountain Observatory in 2006. Darling of planet Earth's night skies in
   2024, the bright comet designated Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) was
   discovered in images taken there on 2023 January 9. The discovery is
   jointly credited to NASA's ATLAS robotic survey telescope at Sutherland
   Observatory, South Africa. Other comet discoveries associated with the
   historic Purple Mountain Observatory and bearing the observatory's
   transliterated Mandarin name include periodic comets 60/P Tsuchinshan
   and 62/P Tsuchinshan.

                      Tomorrow's picture: warm and cozy
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