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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2024 October 17

                          The Clipper and the Comet
          Image Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper (Launch Photography)

   Explanation: NASA's Europa Clipper is now headed toward an ocean world
   beyond Earth. The large spacecraft is tucked into the payload fairing
   atop the Falcon Heavy rocket in this photo, taken at Kennedy Space
   Center the day before the mission's successful October 14 launch.
   Europa Clipper's interplanetary voyage will first take it to Mars, then
   back to Earth, and then on to Jupiter on gravity assist trajectories
   that will allow it to enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030. Once
   orbiting Jupiter, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times,
   exploring a Jovian moon with a global subsurface ocean that may have
   conditions to support life. Posing in the background next to the
   floodlit rocket is Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS, about a day after the
   comet's closest approach to Earth. A current darling of evening skies,
   the naked-eye comet is a vistor from the distant Oort cloud

              Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in 2024
                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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