Comet and Capella

Comet McNaught C/2009 R1 is photographed (at magnitude 5) during a close encounter with bright star Capella. The comet is barely visible to the naked eye in the colored sky of morning twilight; as seen from from Beynam Forest 40 km south of Ankara. Move the slider on the image to see the guide labels. This image is made through a 50 mm lens. A part of the comet tail is also visible (which was a spectacular view in telescopic images). C/2009 R1 is one of more than 50 comets known as Comet McNaught; named after the Australian comet discoverer and astronomer Robert H. McNaught. The comet (with closest approach to the Sun on 2010 July 2) is a non-periodic and will most probably leave the Solar System permanently.