Here’s the Picture We’ve Been Waiting for. Hubble’s Photo of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

Universe Today ^

[BenLurkin]

Hubble Space Telescope. The workhorse telescope has given us a photo of the new interstellar comet 2I/Borisov...

2I/Borisov has wandered into our Solar System from the deep cold of interstellar space, but nobody knows from whence it came, or how long it’s been travelling. Boris only the second object we’ve observed that’s come into our Solar System from somewhere else in the galaxy, and the Hubble snapped photos of it speeding along at about 177,000 kph (110,000 mph.) So far, the Hubble images are the sharpest ones yet.

Comets contain a lot of water ice and other volatiles. When they get close enough to the Sun, some of that ice sublimates into gas, creating the characteristic coma and tail that is clear in many comet images. A coma and a tail are clearly visible in these Hubble images of 2I/Borisov.

“Whereas ‘Oumuamua appeared to be a rock, Borisov is really active, more like a normal comet. It’s a puzzle why these two are so different,” said David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in a press release. Jewiit is the leader of the Hubble team who observed the comet.

Amateur astronomers have discovered a lot of comets, and this one is no exception. Amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov, from Crimea, discovered this one on August 30th, 2019. More observations from other amateur astronomers followed (they all talk to each other, you know.) Professional astronomers got involved too, and eventually the IAU’s Minor Planet Center and JPL’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies calculated the trajectory. That confirmed the object’s interstellar origins.

[equaviator]

copy that.

[wastedyears]

Our spacecraft travel at nearly half a million miles an hour towards the sun?

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

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[Moonman62]

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is a 1,500-lb. computer a little smaller than a compact car, but in the years ahead, it will reach speeds of 430,000 miles per hour in order to pass through the edge of the sun itself. Getting there is no easy task, and neither is understanding the journey.

https://qz.com/1353429/the-parker-solar-probe-is-the-fastest-man-made-object-ever/