Comet Castle

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day the broad dust tail of Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) appears in a close-up view from Germany. Sweeping away from the Sun and trailing behind the comet’s orbit, the curving dust tail also seems to stream away from a shining mountaintop castle. Comet Castle might be an appropriate name in this scene, but its traditional name is Castle Hohenzollern. Using an extreme telephoto lens, the Comet Castle image was captured in exceptionally clear skies about 80 kilometers away from Stuttgart.