Interstellar Comet 2I Borisov
Explanation:
From somewhere else
in the Milky Way galaxy,
Comet 2I/Borisov is just visiting
the Solar System.
Discovered by Crimean amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov
on August 30, 2019, the first known interstellar comet
is captured in these two recent
Hubble
Space Telescope images.
On the left, a distant background galaxy near the line-of-sight to
Borisov is blurred as
Hubble
tracked the speeding comet and dust tail about
327 million kilometers from Earth.
At right, 2I/Borisov appears shortly after perihelion, it's closest
approach to Sun.
Borisov's closest approach to our fair planet, a distance of about 290 million
kilometers, will come on December 28.
Even though Hubble's sharp images don't resolve the comet's nucleus,
they do lead to estimates of less than 1 kilometer for its diameter.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
