Comets provide photographers with endless possibilities. They are dynamic close-up subjects: capable of shifting their form from night to night, sprouting nebulous comae, and even undergoing outbursts. Comets are also itinerant photobombers, regularly crossing paths with familiar deep-sky objects as they glide elliptically against the celestial sphere. And when great comets graze the Sun and unleash their tails across the entire sky, they make for spectacular wide-field vistas.
Where once these landscapes were captured only in sketches and paintings, the steady march of technology has enabled astroimagers to record them in increasingly stunning photographs. The images here capture some of the great (and nearly great) comets of the past six decades.
1. Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1)