Hubble snaps icy comet ISON

Esahubble_potw1342a_1024

esahubble_potw1342a October 21st, 2013

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope picture shows C/2012 S1, better known as Comet ISON, a high-profile celestial visitor to the Solar System. Hubble has already snapped this comet twice this year (opo1314a, opo1331a), but for some time it was temporarily blocked from view by the Sun. It was spotted again in August 2013, and this new image shows the comet as it appeared in our skies in early October. ISON will be brightest in our skies in late November, just before and after it hurtles past the Sun. As it gets brighter, it may even become visible as a naked eye object, before it fades throughout December the month of its closest approach to Earth. Depending on its fate as it passes close to the Sun, it could become spectacular or, on the contrary, it could completely disintegrate. Many observatories, as well as several ESA and NASA missions, aim to observe this icy visitor over the coming months. In this Hubble image, taken on 9 October 2013, the comet's solid nucleus is unresolved because it is so small. If it had broken apart a possibility as the Sun slowly warms it up during its approach Hubble would have likely seen evidence for multiple fragments instead. Links NASA release Hubble Heritage release ISONblog, an online source offering analysis of Comet ISON by Hubble Space Telescope astronomers and staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, USA.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1342a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

View Options

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
C/2012 S1 Comet ISON
Subject - Solar System
Interplanetary Body > Comet

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (I) 775.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Ultraviolet (B) 438.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Orange
Blue
Esahubble_potw1342a_1280
×
ID
potw1342a
Subject Category
A.2.2  
Subject Name
C/2012 S1, Comet ISON
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date
2013-10-21T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1342a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Orange, Blue
Band
Infrared, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
I, B
Central Wavelength
775, 438
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
3976.0, 3866.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1342a
Metadata Date
2013-10-17T08:40:09-04:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In