FW: Newscenter Update: Hubble Provides Spectacular Detail of a Come

From: Andrew Johnson

Date: 2006-04-27 18:38:45

Inbox Astronomy – Hubble Provides Spectacular Detail of a Comet’s Breakup This is utter speculation, but what if “someone” knew this thing was a danger to the Earth and decided it needed “dealing with”. As I understand things, there is no reason for this comet to break up where it is at the moment (clearly, if it was nearer the Sun or one of the giant planets, the reason might be more obvious). Just a thought…   April 27, 2006     Hubble Provides Spectacular Detail of a Comet’s Breakup Get larger image formats Find the entire Hubble News archive, image galleries, and much more at hubblesite.org   Hubble Space Telescope is providing astronomers with extraordinary views of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. The fragile comet is rapidly disintegrating as it approaches the Sun. Hubble images have uncovered many more fragments than have been reported by ground-based observers. These observations provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the demise of a comet nucleus. The comet is currently a chain of over three dozen separate fragments, named alphabetically, stretching across the sky by several times the angular diameter of the Moon. Hubble caught two of the fragments (B and G) shortly after large outbursts in activity. Hubble shows several dozen “mini-comets” trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material. Deep-freeze relics of the early solar system, cometary nuclei are porous and fragile mixes of dust and ices that can break apart due to the thermal, gravitational, and dynamical stresses of approaching the Sun. Whether any of the many fragments survive the trip around the Sun remains to be seen in the weeks ahead. See the full release, including: More Images Video Fast Facts Related Links And more! This news release and its supporting materials are permanently archived at: hubblesite.org/news/… You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the Inbox Astronomy mailing list, which sends notices in HTML whenever there is a new Hubble Space Telescope image, product, or news update. If you would like to unsubscribe or change your email preferences, please go to: hubblesite.org/newsc…

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