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COMET ISON: Hubble Reveals Very Diffuse Gas, Dust and Small Fragments Spread Over an Extremely Large Area (Video)
On December 18, 2013, the Hubble Space Telescope tried to observe Comet ISON one last time. As many people expected, there is no evidence of Comet ISON in the latest images.
According to astronomer Hal Weaver, who devised Hubble’s strategy, there were two likely locations of the comet, predictions based on previous positions measured when the comet was still visible. Dr. Weaver also estimates that the faintest objects Hubble could see in these images would be about 25th magnitude. This means that Hubble could have seen comet fragments larger than about 500 feet (160 meters) in diameter.
We can’t completely rule out the possibility that something is left of the comet. After all, it was seen after its passage close to the Sun, but disappeared not long after. This material would still exist, but is likely very diffuse gas, dust, and very small pieces spread over an extremely large area.
Watch the video here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb-E6A-kkZM
IMAGE CREDIT: HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
HubbleSite – ISONblog
BREAKING NEWS: Comet ISON Is Still Dead: http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/comet_ison
