Hubble image archive
Comet ATLAS
Breakup of Comet ATLAS This pair of Hubble Space Telescope images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and April 23, 2020, reveal the breakup of the solid nucleus of the comet. Hubble photos identify as many as 30 separate fragments. The comet was approximately 91 millio...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2021
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2021-031-01fcrgxpa0q6rscra8n1zefzpn
Breakup of Comet ATLAS
This pair of Hubble Space Telescope images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and April 23, 2020, reveal the breakup of the solid nucleus of the comet. Hubble photos identify as many as 30 separate fragments. The comet was approximately 91 million miles from Earth when the images were taken. The comet may be a broken off piece of a larger comet that swung by the Sun 5,000 years ago. The comet has been artificially colored in this view to enhance details for analysis.
Credits
Science
NASA, ESA, Quanzhi Ye (UMD)
Image Processing
Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) |
| Object Description | Fragmented comet |
| Distance | At the time of observations, the comet was 1.11 AU from Earth (103 million miles). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from program (D. Jewitt) |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | 20 April 2020, 23 April 2020 |
| Filters | F350LP |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning the color red to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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