Sungrazing Comet ISON, C/2012 S1
Comet ISON. Hubble image reveals innermost region of the comet, where geysers of sublimating ice are fueling a spectacular tail. Made from observations on November 2, 2013 the image combines pictures of ISON taken through blue and red filters. The round coma around ISON's nucleus is blue and the tail has a redder hue. Ice and gas in the coma reflect blue light from the Sun, while dust grains in the tail reflect more red light than blue light. This is the most color separation seen so far in ISON because the comet, nearer than ever to the Sun, is brighter and more structured than ever before. Hubble started observing Comet ISON in April, 2013. ISON's own journey, started some 10,000 years ago in the Oort cloud. ISON will come closest to the Sun on November 28, a point in its orbit known as perihelion. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Size: 3300px × 3290px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: /2012, 2013, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, body, celestial, century, coma, comet, comet-tail, deep, heavenly, hst, hubble, image, international, ison, network, nevski-novichonok, object, optical, perihelion, s1, science, scientific, sky, space, sun, sungrazing, tail, telescope
