GALAXIES
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Title: Giacobini-Zinner (21P) Caption: Comet Giacobini-Zinner, designation 21P, has an orbital period of just over six and half years making it a frequent visitor to the solar system. The brightest appearance of the comet was in 1946. It passed just 0.26 AU from the Earth and reached a7th magnitude. The comet was last visible in 1998 when it passed by the Sun at a distance of 1.034 AU. Its peak observable magnitude was 8.5. The comet has an associated meteor shower - the Draconids - which were seen to reappear in 1998 with an hourly rate of 100 per hour. Copyright:(c) Copyright Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. (AURA), all rights reserved Credit: N.A.Sharp/AURA/NOAO/NSF |
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Title: Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1) Caption: Comet Ikeya-Seki, designation C/1965 S1, was independently discovered by Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki within 15 minutes of each other on 18th September 1965. It was identified as a sungrazer comet. The comet became exceptionally bright, visible in daylight at an estimated magnitude of -10 or -11. The comet was reported to have broken up into 3 pieces just 30 minutes before perihelion. The tail of the comet extended up to 25° across the sky. The period of the comet was calculated at 880 years and some believe that Ikeya-Seki was the great comet of 1106. Copyright:(c) Copyright Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. (AURA), all rights reserved Credit: Roger Lynds/AURA/NOAO/NSF |
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Title: Halley (1P) - 1910 Caption: Comet Halley is the most famous comet in history. It has been portrayed continually throughout history due to its orbital period of 76 years. It is named after Edmund Halley who determined that the appearances of a comet in the years 1531, 1607 and 1682 were the same comet. He successfully predicted its return in 1758. In 1910 it passed within 0.2 AU of the Earth and was an impressive sight in the heavens. It reached magnitude 0 and its tail spanned 100° across the sky. Copyright:(c) Copyright Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. (AURA), all rights reserved Credit: Lowell Observatory/AURA/NOAO/NSF |
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Title: Halley (1P) - 1910 Caption: Comet Halley is the most famous comet in history. It has been portrayed continually throughout history. In 1910 it passed close by the Earth and was an impressive sight in the heavens. Copyright:(c) Public Domain Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Title: Halley (1P) - November 1985 Caption: Just a few months before its closest approach to the Sun comet Halley was observed in November 1985. |
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Title: Halley (1P) - 1986 Caption: The reappearance of Comet Halley in 1986 was something of a disappointment. Its path meant it was very difficult to view from northerly latitudes, with observers in the southern hemisphere getting the best view. Compared to its previous apparition Comet Halley only reached a brightness of magnitude 3 and its tail spanned a mere 10°. |
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Title: Core of Comet Halley Caption: The European Space Agency sent a spacecraft to intercept Halley's comet. The large amount of dust and gas streaming of the core of the comet disabled several of the systems. This is one of the last images obtained by the camera before its lens was shattered by a large dust particle. At closest approach, after this picture was taken, the spacecraft passed just 550 km (350 miles) from the nucleus. The nucleus measures 16x8x8 km in size. |
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Title: SL-9 Breaks Up Caption: A Hubble Space Telescope image of comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 taken on May 17, 1994 just a few months before the comet collided with Jupiter. The comet's train of 21 icy fragments stretched across 1.1 million km (710 thousand miles) of the solar system - roughly 3 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. The comet was approximately 660 million km (410 million miles) from Earth. Copyright:(c) Public Domain Credit: H.A. Weaver, T. E. Smith (Space Telescope Science Institute), and NASA |
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Title: SL-9 Heading for Jupiter Caption: A composite photo, assembled from separate images of Jupiter and comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9, by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The picture of Jupiter was taken on May 18, 1994, when the planet was 760 million km (420 million miles) from Earth. The dark spot on the disk of Jupiter is the shadow of the inner moon Io. The moon itself appears as an orange and yellow disk just to the upper right of the shadow. The comet was observed on May 17, its train of 21 icy fragments stretched across 1.1 million km (710 thousand miles) of space. The apparent angular size of Jupiter, relative to the comet, and its angular separation from the comet have been modified for illustration purposes. Copyright:(c) Public Domain Credit: H.A. Weaver, T.E. Smith (Space Telescope Science Institute) and J.T. Trauger, R.W. Evans (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and NASA |
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Title: Multiple Impacts Caption: Eight impact sites are visible. From left to right are the E/F complex (barely visible on the edge of the planet), the star-shaped H site, the impact sites for tiny N, Q1, small Q2, and R, and on the far right limb the D/G complex. The D/G complex also shows extended haze at the edge of the planet. The features are rapidly evolving on a timescale of days. The smallest features in this image are less than 200 kilometers across. Copyright:(c) Public Domain Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team and NASA |
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Title: Ultraviolet View of Comet Impacts Caption: This Hubble Space Telescope image shows Jupiter's at a wavelength of 2550 Angstroms after several impacts by fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. A large, dark patch from the impact of fragment H is visible rising on the morning (left) side. Proceeding to the right, other dark spots were caused by impacts of fragments Q1, R, D and G (now one large spot), and L, with L covering the largest area. Small dark spots from B, N, and Q2 are also discernible. The spots are very dark at ultraviolet wavelengths because a large quantity of dust was deposited high in Jupiter's stratosphere, absorbing the sunlight. By watching the evolution of these features it was possible to determine wind speeds in the stratosphere. Jupiter's moon, Io, is the dark spot just above the center of the planet. Copyright:(c) Public Domain Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team and NASA |
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Title: West (C/1975 V1) Caption: Comet West, designation C/1975 V1, was discovered in November 1975. In early March 1976 it passed within 0.8 AU of the Earth, reaching a brightness of magnitude -1. Making it the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.A wide dust tail was seen, eventually spanning 30 to 35°. Shortly after its closest approach to the Sun the comet split into four fragments. The comet has an orbital period of at least 250,000 years. This image of the comet shows a distinct dust tail along with a blue ion gas tail. Copyright:(c) John Laborde Credit: John Laborde |
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Title: Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) Caption: Comet Hale-Bopp was a spectacular visitor to our skies during 1997. It was discovered in July 1995 and when it finally reached our skies became visible to observers across the globe for many nights. The comet displayed two tails - a bright white one of dust and a blue ion gas tail. Its maximum magnitude was an estimated -0.5. The dust tail eventually extended to 25°, the gas tail to 20 - a physical distance of over 1 AU. The comet will not return for another 2,400 years. Copyright:(c) Public Domain Credit: NASA/JPL |
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