A Really Neat Close-up of Comet NEAT Target Name:   Comet Neat Spacecraft:   Kitt Peak WIYN 0.9-meter telescope Produced by:   NASA, NOAO, NSF, T. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Z. Levay and L.Frattare (Space Telescope Science Institute) Copyright:  NASA Copyright Free Policy Date Taken:   7 May 2004 Date Released:  9 May 2005

• Comet Neat

This image of comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) was taken at the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, on May 7, 2004.

The image was captured with the Mosaic I camera, which has a one-square degree field of view, or about five times the size of the Moon. Even with this large field, only the comet's coma and the inner portion of its tail are visible. A small star cluster (C0736-105, or Melotte 72) is visible in the lower right of the image, between the head of the comet and the bright red star in the lower-right corner.