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PIA17483: Comet ISON Brings Holiday Fireworks
Superficially resembling a skyrocket, Comet ISON is hurtling toward the Sun at a whopping 48,000 miles per hour in this still from a Hubble animation.
 Target Name:  ISON
 Is a satellite of:  Unknown target/parent relationship
 Mission:  Hubble Space Telescope 
 Product Size:  1008 x 935 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Space Telescope Science Institute 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA17483.tif (945.2 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA17483.jpg (115.3 kB)  

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Superficially resembling a skyrocket, Comet ISON is hurtling toward the Sun at a whopping 48,000 miles per hour. Unlike a firework, the comet is not combusting, but in fact is pretty cold. Its skyrocket-looking tail is really a streamer of gas and dust bleeding off the icy nucleus. The video shows a sequence of Hubble observations taken over a 43-minute span, compressed into just five seconds. The comet travels 34,000 miles during the exposure sequence.

Image Credit:
NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA

Image Addition Date:
2013-07-02