I knew it was only a matter of time until Hubble Space Telescope turned its attention to the potential "Comet of the Century" ISON. Wow oh wow, what a result:
Even at 394 MILLION miles from Earth and 386 million miles from the Sun this comet is a thing of beauty. The picture was taken April 10th and the blue hue was added to enhance details. The comet's nucleus, or solid central body, is estimated to be 2 to 3 miles across. Further analysis will be done as time goes on and distance decreases.
It is remarkable that the comet already has a coma - the fuzzy area around the nucleus that is 3,100 miles across - a tail that extends for 57,000 miles, and a small jet on the upper right that is on the Sun facing side of the nucleus. This jet is blowing volatiles and dust off of the surface of the nucleus.
Comet ISON is currently moving at 47,000 miles per hour and will increase its' speed as it gets closer to the Sun. The show is probably going to continue to improve as the comet gets closer to the Sun and exposed to greater heat. One can only imagine what will happen when this comet passes only 700,000 miles from the Sun!
I can hardly wait!!!!!
Stay tuned as we countdown to Comet ISON. I will have more on the comet tomorrow.
Read More About It and down load the pics for yourself: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2013/14/image/
Sky Guy in VA
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