Tag Archives: comet

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Comet Hale-Bopp

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Comet Hale-Bopp (designated C/1995 O1) was discovered on July 23, 1995 and was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the 20th century.

Hale Bopp - NASA
Comet Hale Bopp photographed by Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope‘s Wide Field planetary camera tool these series of pictures of the comet between 1995 and 1996. They chronicle changes in the evolution of the nucleus of Comet Hale-Bopp as it moved closer to the sun and was hence warmed by it. Hale-Bopp passed perihelion on April 1, 1997 and was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997. Its lengthy period of visibility and extensive coverage in the media made Hale-Bopp one of the most-observed and talked about comets in history. This lead to all sorts of claims about it, including those associating it with UFOs and people who believed that Comet Hale-Bopp was actually Nibiru or Planet X.

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Streaking comet Siding Spring

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Streaking Comet - NASA
Streaking comet Siding Spring C/2007 Q3

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) took this picture of a comet during its ongoing infrared survey of the whole sky. The Siding Spring comet, also known as C/2007 Q3 was an Aussie discovery and is comprised of a snowball-like mass of ice and dust.  It is believed that this comet spent billions of years orbiting in the very cold Oort Cloud but was then knocked out of its old orbit and moved closer to the sun. The heat then warmed the comet and lead to it shedding the ice and dust in a long tail, which trails behind it. The comet appears red because it is still more than ten times colder than the stars around it.

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