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Comet 209P/LINEAR in Ursa Major

Comet 209P/LINEAR shining faintly among the stars of Ursa Major on April 30, 2014.
Comet 209P/LINEAR shines faintly among the stars of Ursa Major on April 30, 2014.

This April 30, 2014 image was taken using the NASA Marshal Space Flight Center 20″ telescope located in New Mexico. A 3-minute exposure, it shows 14th magnitude Comet 209P/LINEAR shining faintly among the stars of Ursa Major. At the time of this image, 209P was just over 40 million km from Earth, heading for a relatively close approach (8.3 million km) with us on May 29, 2014.

Image credit: NASA/MSFC/Bill Cooke