This photo comes from a time-lapse sequence taken by Gabriel Brammer from ESO just two days ago on 22 December 2011.
Gabriel was finishing his night shift as support astronomer at the Paranal Observatory when the comet rose over the horizon just before dawn.
CREDIT: G. Brammer/ESO
A stunning comet that survived a recent brush with the sun is amazing astronomers again, this time in dazzling new photos captured just before sunrise over Chile.
The comet Lovejoy may not be the famed Star of Bethlehem, but it still provided a jaw-dropping sight for astronomer Gabriel Brammer, photographed the comet rising ahead of the sun on Dec. 22 at Paranal Observatory in Chile's high Atacama Desert.
Brammer is a support astronomer for the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which runs the Paranal facility. His time-lapse photos of comet Lovejoy show it rising ahead of the sun as the Paranal astronomers fire a laser beam, which serves as a guide star, into the sky. Our Milky Way galaxy and the moon are also visible in the images.
"On the last morning of my shift I tried to try catching it on camera before sunrise," Brammer said in a statement.
"The tail of the comet was easily visible with the naked eye, and the combination of the crescent moon, comet, Milky Way and the laser guide star was nearly as impressive to the naked eye as it appears in the long-exposure photos."
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