Érase una vez, en un cometa azul…
Esta imagen nos muestra un cometa situado en los confines exteriores del Sistema Solar: el cometa C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS). Como su nombre indica, el cometa fue descubierto en 2016 por los telescopios Pan-STARRS, en Hawái. La nueva imagen fue captada por un proyecto basado en el Observatorio Paranal de ESO, en Chile, llamado SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars, búsqueda de planetas habitables que eclipsan estrellas ultrafrías).
Los cometas son bolas de polvo, hielo, gas y roca. Cuando pasan cerca del Sol, su hielo se calienta, se convierte en gas y escapa en un proceso llamado "desgasificación". Este proceso forma envolventes difusas alrededor del núcleo de los cometas, llamados comas, y colas distintivas. Las observaciones de SPECULOOS muestran que la cola de C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) cambia drásticamente a lo largo de una sola noche, proporcionando un dinámico conjunto de imágenes. La imagen que se muestra aquí, y los fotogramas que la acompañan en la película de timelapse, comprenden observaciones tomadas el 18 de enero de 2018 durante la fase de pruebas del telescopio Callisto de SPECULOOS, y fueron obtenidas cuando el cometa se encontraba a 2,85 UA del Sol (1 AU es la distancia Tierra-Sol) viajando hacia el interior.
Este cometa es particularmente interesante debido a los raros compuestos y moléculas que los científicos han detectado en su coma: monóxido de carbono e iones de nitrógeno. Estos compuestos le dan al cometa distintivas líneas de emisión azules, tanto es así que ha sido apodado "el cometa azul". Este tímido cometa sólo orbita el Sol una vez cada 20.000 años, y acercamiento más reciente tuvo lugar en mayo de 2018. Esta imagen fue tomada durante el tiempo durante el cual el telescopio seguía el movimiento del cometa; las brillantes rayas de luz del fondo son estrellas lejanas, pero el cometa y su coma gaseoso están enfocados, un testimonio del poder de rastreo de SPECULOOS.
Enlaces:
- Película que muestra los cambios en la cola del cometa
ESO/SPECULOOS Team/E. Jehin
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw1940a |
| Idioma: | es |
| Tipo: | Observación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 7 de Octubre de 2019 a las 06:00 |
| Noticias relacionadas: | eso2108 |
| Tamaño: | 1532 x 1516 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) |
| Tipo: | Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet |
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