Hubble Close-Up of Bright Nucleus in Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9
This is an enlargement of a NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the "brightest nucleus" in a string of approximately 20 objects that comprise comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9. The comet is hurtling toward a July I994 collision with the giant planet Jupiter.
Hubble's high resolution shows that this bright region is actually a group of at least four separate pieces. The HST images allow for the best separation of the individual nuclei and their surrounding halo of dust (comae), which results in a better estimate of the nuclear sizes.
Credit:About the Image
About the Object
Name: | Shoemaker-Levy 9 |
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Type: | Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet |
Category: | Solar System |
Colours & filters
Band | Telescope |
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Optical |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC1 |