2020 July 08 - Mercury's Sodium Tail
Channel: APOD Podcast
Date: 07/07/2020

In today's image, we see the planet Mercury - the closest planet to the Sun. Stretching back to the upper left, we see a tail composed of sodium atoms. These atoms are from Mercury's atmosphere and are pushed off by the Sun and excited by the Sun's energy and glow with a yellow color. 

My commentary will state that this is the image for July 7, but it is the image for July 8.

This YouTube channel is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200708.html.