1 min read
Comet LINEAR
Astronomers analyzing debris from a comet that broke apart last summer spied pieces as small as smoke-sized particles and as large as football-field-sized fragments. But it's the material they didn't see that has aroused their curiosity. Tracking the doomed comet, named LINEAR, the Hubble telescope and the Very Large Telescope in Chile found tiny particles that made up the 2,000-mile-long dust tail and 16 large fragments, some as wide as 330 feet. But the telescopes didn't detect any intermediate-sized pieces. If they exist, then the fundamental building blocks that comprised LINEAR's nucleus may be somewhat smaller than current theories suggest.
The Hubble picture shows that that LINEAR's nucleus has been reduced to a shower of glowing "mini-comets" resembling the fiery fragments from an exploding aerial firework. This picture was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on August 5, 2000, when the comet was at a distance of 64 million miles (102 million kilometers) from Earth.
About the Object
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.The comet's distance to the Sun at closest approach was 71 million miles (114 million km).
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.Principal Astronomers: Comet LINEAR investigation team: H. Weaver and P. Feldman (JHU), M. A'Hearn (Univ. of Maryland), C. Arpigny (Liege Univ.), J. Bauer (Univ. of Hawaii), M. Combi (Univ. of Michigan), J. Davies (Joint Astronomy Centre), M. Festou (Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees), M. Keesey (JPL), P. Lamy (Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale), C. Lisse (STScI), B. Marsden (SAO), K. Meech (Univ. of Hawaii), Z. Sekanina (JPL) , I. Toth (Konkoly Observatory) , G.-P. Tozzi (Arcetri Observatory), D. Yeomans (JPL). - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>WFPC2 and HST>STIS
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.July and August 2000, Exposure Time: ~ 2 hours
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.WFPC2: F675W (R) STIS: F28X50LP
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Comet LINEAR; C/1999 S4; LINEARLincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Comet
- Release DateMay 17, 2001
- Science ReleaseAstronomers Puzzled over Comet LINEAR’s Missing Pieces
- CreditNASA and Hal Weaver (The Johns Hopkins University)
Share
Details
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
