{"id":213642,"url":"https://www.kudos365.com/news/213642-comet-r3-panstarrs-through-time","short_url":"https://www.kudos365.com/news/213642","headline":"Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time","content":"\u003cp\u003eNASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat happens to a comet as it leaves our inner Solar System?  Now, the arrival of a comet into the inner Solar System is typically heralded with great fanfare and high hopes that the comet will become bright and photogenic. But on the way out, the comet's nucleus is less warmed by the Sun, less gas and dust are expelled, the bright coma around the nucleus shrinks and fades, and the tail length drops off. Many comets will then return to the outer Solar System and only return in hundreds or thousands of years. In contrast, some comets -- like Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) -- receive a gravitational kick from the planets and so will never return. Pictured, Comet R3 PanSTARRs was imaged deeply many nights in early to mid-May near Cerro Paranal in Chile. Later images appear closer to the top and clearly show the shrinking ion tail.    Comet R3 Gallery: Comet R3 PanSTARRS in 2026\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePhoto by Jakub Kuřák \u0026 \nMartin Mašek \n(FZU of the Czech Academy of Sciences)\u003c/p\u003e","content_plain":"NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:\n\nWhat happens to a comet as it leaves our inner Solar System?  Now, the arrival of a comet into the inner Solar System is typically heralded with great fanfare and high hopes that the comet will become bright and photogenic. But on the way out, the comet's nucleus is less warmed by the Sun, less gas and dust are expelled, the bright coma around the nucleus shrinks and fades, and the tail length drops off. Many comets will then return to the outer Solar System and only return in hundreds or thousands of years. In contrast, some comets -- like Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) -- receive a gravitational kick from the planets and so will never return. Pictured, Comet R3 PanSTARRs was imaged deeply many nights in early to mid-May near Cerro Paranal in Chile. Later images appear closer to the top and clearly show the shrinking ion tail.    Comet R3 Gallery: Comet R3 PanSTARRS in 2026\n\n\nPhoto by Jakub Kuřák \u0026amp; \nMartin Mašek \n(FZU of the Czech Academy of Sciences)","published_at":"2026-06-08T14:16:00-07:00","updated_at":"2026-06-08T21:38:09-07:00","author":{"type":"Person","name":"Specola","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/profiles/298285-specola"},"description":"Stay up-to-date with Specola on Kudos 365. View their photo published Jun/08/2026 on Science - Tech - Astronomy. Browse your favorite topics and share your expertise, too.","type":"photo","image":"https://k365pi.imgix.net/site/apod/generated/635d99ab-ebaf-4486-8f06-99a0a4026db2.jpg?auto=compress,format\u0026fit=max\u0026w=1200\u0026h=1200\u0026q=48","likes_count":3,"categories":[{"name":"Science - Tech - Astronomy","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/categories/986-science-tech-astronomy"}],"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CreativeWork","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/news/213642-comet-r3-panstarrs-through-time","headline":"Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time","image":"https://k365pi.imgix.net/site/apod/generated/635d99ab-ebaf-4486-8f06-99a0a4026db2.jpg?auto=compress,format\u0026fit=max\u0026w=1200\u0026h=1200\u0026q=48","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Specola","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/profiles/298285-specola"},"datePublished":"2026-06-08T14:16:00-07:00","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/LikeAction","userInteractionCount":3}],"subjectOf":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Science - Tech - Astronomy","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/categories/986-science-tech-astronomy"}]}}