Comet Elenin and More Detected

If one looks carefully, three small satellites of the Sun can be made out in this zoomed-in and magnified movie from the HI-2 telescope on STEREO Ahead. Most easily seen is the short-period Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova on the left side of the movie. It's moving very slowly, and might have been mistaken for a camera defect if it didn't suddenly produce a beautiful and very active comet tail in response to the solar wind going by. Just below Comet 45P is the asteroid Vesta, visibly moving against the star background. The third object is our old-friend Comet Elenin, moving from right to left through the vertical center. Comet Elenin has dropped dramatically in brightness since late August and is no longer visible in many telescopes, including the HI-2 telescope on STEREO Behind. It is still faintly visible in HI-2 on STEREO Ahead.

• elenin_hi2a_sep16to26.mov   
• elenin_hi2a_sep16to26.mpg   
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