Jet rotating with comet 252P LINEAR, HST image

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Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images showing comet 252P/LINEAR passing by Earth on the 4th of April 2016. The images show a jet of dust ejected from the comet's icy nucleus and illuminated by sunlight. Across the images, the jet is also seen changing direction: evidence that the comet's nucleus is rotating. Images captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.

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Size: 4199px × 2099px
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Photo credit: © NASA, ESA, and J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute)/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 2016, 252p, 3, 4th, april, astronomical, astronomy, camera, comet, dust, field, hst, hubble, jet, linear, nasa, nucleus, rotation, space, spinning, telescope, wfc3, wide