Blue Comet in the Hyades

Stars of the Hyades Star Cluster are scattered through this mosaic spanning over 5 degrees on the sky toward the Taurus constellation.

Presently cruising through the Solar System, the remarkably blue Comet C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS is placed in the wide field of view using image data from January 12.

With the apex of the V-shape in the Hyades Star Cluster positioned near the top center, bright Aldebaran, alpha star of Taurus, anchors the frame at the lower right.

A cool red giant, Aldebaran is seen in orange hues in the colorful starfield. While the stars of the Hyades are gathered 151 light-years away, Aldebaran lies only 65 light-years distant and so is separate from the cluster stars.

On January 12, C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS was over 17 light-minutes from planet Earth and nearly 24 light-minutes from the Sun. Its blue tinted tail largely due to CO+ gas fluorescing in sunlight, the head or coma of the Comet appears with a slightly greenish hue, likely emission from diatomic carbon.