The Innermost Coma of Comet Hyakutake
The image is a false-colour image reproduction from a short-exposure CCD frame, obtained with the Danish 1.54-metre telescope and the DFOSC instrument with a 2052 x 2052 pix Loral/Lesser CCD. They show the innermost coma of Comet Hyakutake and the pronounced asymmetry of the dust distribution around the nucleus. This photo displays an area of approx. 9.2 x 6.7 arcmin. The typical elongation in the anti-solar direction (at p.a. = 290 deg, i.e. West-North-West) is very pronounced. The asymmetry in the upper-right quadrant (North-West) is also obvious. When moving outwards from the nucleus (located within the black area), the isophotes (curves of equal brightness; particularly well shown by the contrasting colours on these photos) turn anti-clockwise over an angle of about 20 degrees. This effect is caused by the repulsive action on the dust grains by the solar photons.
Credit:
ESO
About the Image
| Id: | eso9615a |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 2 March 1996 |
| Related releases: | eso9615 |
| Size: | 358 x 260 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Comet Hyakutake |
| Type: | • Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet • X - Solar System |
Colours & filters
| Band | Telescope |
| Optical R |
Danish 1.54-metre telescope DFOSC |
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