Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Good cameras were able to obtain impressive photographs of Comet Hale-Bopp when at its brightest earlier this year. A flashlight was used to momentarily illuminate foreground rocks in this 30 second exposure. Comet Hale-Bopp is still visible to the unaided eye in Earth's Southern Hemisphere , with observers there reporting it to be about 4th magnitude . The comet is now passing nearly in front of the star Sirius , and shows only a slight dust tail .
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