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Comet 41P (Artist’s Concept)

Illustration, close up of rocky, potato-shaped body of a comet with detailed, cratered surface at the bottom right. A glowing ray emanates from the rocky surface like sunlight through clouds. It extends from the comet’s surface across the image to the left. This represents water ice being vaporized by the heat of the Sun. There are small bright dots within the ray, representing fragments of the comet. The words Artist's Concept appear at the bottom left.

This artist’s concept depicts comet 41P, a tiny Jupiter-family comet, as it approached the Sun and frozen gases began to sublimate and shoot material off into space. Scientists analyzing observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found that these jets slowed the comet’s spin and then started it rotating in the opposite direction.

  • Release Date
    March 26, 2026
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Detects First-Ever Spin Reversal of Tiny Comet
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

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  • Full Res Watermarked - "Artist's Concept" (For Display), 3840 × 2160
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  • Full Res Watermarked - "Artist's Concept" (For Print), 3840 × 2160
    tif (44.12 MB)
  • Full Res (For Display), 3840 × 2160
    jpg (5.05 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 3840 × 2160
    tif (44.08 MB)
  • Half Res Watermarked - "Artist's Concept" 1920x1080, 1920 × 1080
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  • Half Res - 1920x1080, 1920 × 1080
    jpg (968.34 KB)

Related Images & Videos

Illustration, close up of rocky, potato-shaped body of a comet with detailed, cratered surface at the bottom right. A glowing ray emanates from the rocky surface like sunlight through clouds. It extends from the cometu2019s surface across the image to the left. This represents water ice being vaporized by the heat of the Sun. There are small bright dots within the ray, representing fragments of the comet. The words Artist's Concept appears at the bottom left.

Comet 41P Reversal Animation

This artist’s concept depicts comet 41P as it approached the Sun and frozen gases began to sublimate off the comet’s surface. This animation only depicts one jet, but this comet may have multiple streams of material ejecting into space.

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 26, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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