Hubble image archive
Comet 2I/ Borisov at Perihelion
Hubble revisited comet 2I/Borisov on Dec. 9, 2019, shortly after its closest approach to the Sun where it received maximum heating after spending most of its life in frigid interstellar space. The comet also reached a breathtaking maximum speed of about 100,000 miles per hour. Co...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2019
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2019-61-4592-image
Hubble revisited comet 2I/Borisov on Dec. 9, 2019, shortly after its closest approach to the Sun where it received maximum heating after spending most of its life in frigid interstellar space. The comet also reached a breathtaking maximum speed of about 100,000 miles per hour. Comet Borisov is 185 million miles from Earth in this photo, near the inner edge of the asteroid belt but below it. The nucleus, an agglomeration of ices and dust, is still too small to be resolved. The bright central portion is a coma made up of dust leaving the surface. The comet will make its closest approach to Earth in late December at a distance of 180 million miles.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Comet 2I/Borisov |
| Object Description | First interstellar comet, at perihelion |
| Distance | At the time of observations, the comet was 1.99 AU from Earth (185 million miles). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs (D. Jewitt). |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | 9 Dec 2019 |
| 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 blue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. |
More Images From This Period
Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov