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
Category:Solar System

Image Formats

Large JPEG
142.6 KB
Screensize JPEG
419.4 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
517.7 KB
1280x1024
678.3 KB
1600x1200
863.2 KB
1920x1200
921.3 KB
2048x1536
1.1 MB

Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Optical
R
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC

Exposure time: 60s