APOD: 2020 January 30 - Two Custers and a Comet

Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Two Clusters and a Comet." Comet 2017 T2 (C/2017 T2) was discovered by the PanSTARRS-1 survey telescope back in October 2017. Based on the characteristics of its orbit, astronomers realized that C/2017 T2 was dynamically new, long-period comet from the Oort Cloud, on its first trip around the Sun since the infancy of the solar system. Today's image is a composite of three telescopic views taken the nights of January 24, 26, and 28, 2020. The star clusters (NGC 869 and 884) lie about 7,000 light years away in the constellation Perseus. The comet reaches its perihelion on May 4, and should be visible with binoculars between the constellation Camelopardis and the bowl of the Big Dipper.