NASA Images Show A Comet With Rotating Jet
- 8 years ago
Hubble’s images of Comet 252P/LINEAR show the speeding mass passing near the sun, leaving behind jets of gas and dust as the heat melts its icy interior.
In late March, Comet 252P/LINEAR passed Earth at the relatively scant distance of 3.3 million miles, making it one of closest such fly-bys our planet has experienced.
A couple of weeks later, the speeding mass also became one of the most near-at-hand celestial bodies the Hubble Space Telescope has ever observed.
Images taken during the encounter show the comet passing near the sun, leaving behind jets of gas and dust as the heat melts its icy interior.
The apparent rotation of the tails indicates the comet’s nucleus is in a highly volatile state, spinning as barrels through space.
This isn’t the last we’ll see of the comet.
It will come back this way in 2021, but on a si
In late March, Comet 252P/LINEAR passed Earth at the relatively scant distance of 3.3 million miles, making it one of closest such fly-bys our planet has experienced.
A couple of weeks later, the speeding mass also became one of the most near-at-hand celestial bodies the Hubble Space Telescope has ever observed.
Images taken during the encounter show the comet passing near the sun, leaving behind jets of gas and dust as the heat melts its icy interior.
The apparent rotation of the tails indicates the comet’s nucleus is in a highly volatile state, spinning as barrels through space.
This isn’t the last we’ll see of the comet.
It will come back this way in 2021, but on a si