NEOWISE Spies Comet Pan-STARRS Against Galaxy Backdrop

NASA's NEOWISE mission captured a series of infrared images of comet C/2012 K1 -- also referred to as comet Pan-STARRS -- as it swept across our skies in May 2014. This animation shows the progression of the comet across a field of stars -- and a more distant spiral galaxy, called NGC 3726, which appears as a blue oval.