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Comet Lulin
Comet Lulin passed its closest to Earth on February 24, 2009. The central coma of the comet is appearing quite green, a color likely indicating glowing molecular carbon gasses. Bright stars and a distant spiral galaxy are clearly visible in the image background. The yellow dust tail, reflecting sunlight, is visible sprawling to the coma's left trailing behind the comet, while the textured bluish-glowing ion tail is visible to the coma's right, pointing away from the Sun. From the current vantage point of Earth, these two tails appeared to point in opposite directions.