Discovered July 2007, Comet Lulin made its close approach to the
sun in January of 2009, and its outward path brought it relatively
close to earth. In this image, the comet was a bit more than 60 million
miles from earth, and had become just visible to the unaided eye under very
dark skies. From the right of the comet's core, and pointing away from
the sun, is the typical comet tail of gas. To the left is a second
tail made up of dust that is trailing behind Comet Lulin.

Image data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (modified)
Exposure: ISO 800, 3 minutes x 50
Telescope: 10" Schmidt-Newtonian, Baader MPCC