Break-up of comet Linear

Eso_eso0026a_1024

eso_eso0026a August 8th, 2000

Credit: ESO

A computer-processed composite of three CCD exposures of the head of Comet LINEAR, obtained with VLT ANTU and the multi-mode FORS-1 instrument through a R(ed) optical filter on August 6, 2000. The telescope followed the comet's fast motion perfectly during the duration of the exposures (9, 10 and 8 min, respectively) and the images of the stars in the field appear as long trails. More than a dozen "mini-comets" are seen — they are pieces from the comet's disintegrating nucleus. Image processing by Richard Hook (ST/ECF, Garching) suppressed the bright part of the comet's tail in order to provide a clearer view of the faint condensations (by means of a median combination of registered, unsharp masked versions of the three images). The observing conditions were good; the image quality is about 0.6 arcsec. The field shown measures about 3.4 x 2.5 arcmin 2. North is up and East is left.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0026a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
C/1999 S4 (LINEAR)
Subject - Solar System
Interplanetary Body > Comet

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Grayscale VLT (FORS1) Optical (R) -
Eso_eso0026a_1280
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ID
eso0026a
Subject Category
A.2.2  
Subject Name
C/1999 S4 (LINEAR)
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2000-08-08T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0026a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
N/A
Facility
Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS1
Color Assignment
Grayscale
Band
Optical
Bandpass
R
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
2000.0, 1446.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso0026a
Metadata Date
2016-07-15T14:09:37+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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