Comet Holmes. This infrared Spitzer Space Telescope image was taken five months after an outburst increased the comet's diameter to over million k

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Comet Holmes. This infrared Spitzer Space Telescope image was taken five months after an outburst increased the comet's diameter to over million kilometres. The comet's nucleus is the bright white spot at centre, the yellow area contains solid particles blown form the comet during the explosion and the red area is the shell, or coma, of the comet, which consists of fine dust particles. Comet Holmes is a short-period comet, with an orbit of only years.

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Size: 3898px × 4592px
Photo credit: © NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 17p/holmes, 2000s, 2008, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, century, coma, comet, cometary, debris, disintegrating, disintegration, dust, expanded, expansion, exploded, explosion, glow, holmes, infrared, ir, march, nucleus, outburst, particles, period, shell, short, short-period, solar, space, spitzer, sst, system, telescope