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NASA’s Hubble Detects First-Ever Spin Reversal of Tiny Comet

A tiny comet just did something scientists have never seen a comet do — and scientists say it probably won’t survive much longer. NASA’s Hubble revealed that comet 41P’s escaping gas has been slowly working against it, offering a rare look at how these frozen relics of the early solar system live, change, and die.

This artist’s concept depicts comet 41P as it approached the Sun and frozen gases began to sublimate off the comet’s surface. The illustration only depicts one jet, but 41P may have multiple streams of material ejecting into space. This jet is pushing against the comet’s spin, forcing it in the opposite direction.

Animation: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Featured Video

The Fellowship of the Telescopes

From’s Hubble’s steadfast watch to Webb’s golden gaze, each telescope helps us see the unseen, unraveling secrets written in starlight.

Young 'Sun' Caught Blowing Bubble by NASA's Chandra

Our Sun has a protective bubble around it that shields Earth from the harshest space radiation, but we’ve never been able to see it from the outside. Now NASA’s Chandra has captured the first image of one of these bubbles around the Moth, a nearby star system that contains a star just like a younger, wilder version of our Sun.

The Moth offers us a better understanding of how the Sun’s wind may have shaped the early conditions of our solar system.

Star HD 61005 with X-rays from the Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as infrared data from Hubble Space Telescope.

Featured News

NASA Discovers Crash of Extreme Stars in Unexpected Site

NASA X-Ray Mission Gets Fresh Look at 2,000-Year-Old Supernova

NASA-JAXA’s XRISM Telescope Clocks Hot Wind of Galaxy M82

NASA Webb, Hubble Share Most Comprehensive View of Saturn to Date

Two Observatories, One Cosmic Eye: Hubble and Euclid View Cat’s Eye Nebula

2024

1999

Colorful nebula in space with a white haze throughout that is more concentrated in the center with a rippling effect. Colorful gas filaments appear to splash outward from the nebula center, colored yellow, magenta, and blue. A faint black border with right angles at the corners of the images show where the telescope’s field of view stopsdotted line with right angles shows the borders of the telescope’s image. Small white stars dot the background.

This 2024 image that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured of the Crab Nebula, paired with its past observations and those of other telescopes, allows astronomers to study how the supernova remnant is expanding and evolving over time.

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

A colorful nebula of thick filaments of cosmic dust and gas appears to splash outward from a hazy white center. Colors include bright pink, blue, and orange. Small white stars dot the background.

This newly processed image of the Crab Nebula comes from data originally captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1999 and 2000.

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Colorful nebula in space with a white haze throughout that is more concentrated in the center with a rippling effect. Colorful gas filaments appear to splash outward from the nebula center, colored yellow, magenta, and blue. A faint black border with right angles at the corners of the images show where the telescope’s field of view stopsdotted line with right angles shows the borders of the telescope’s image. Small white stars dot the background.

This 2024 image that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured of the Crab Nebula, paired with its past observations and those of other telescopes, allows astronomers to study how the supernova remnant is expanding and evolving over time.

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

A colorful nebula of thick filaments of cosmic dust and gas appears to splash outward from a hazy white center. Colors include bright pink, blue, and orange. Small white stars dot the background.

This newly processed image of the Crab Nebula comes from data originally captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1999 and 2000.

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

2024

1999

2024 and 1999

NASA’s Hubble Revisits Crab Nebula to Track 25 Years of Expansion

2024 and 1999

Toggling between these two Hubble images, captured 25 years apart, reveals changes in the position of the nebula's filaments relative to more distant background stars. Energy from the rapidly spinning pulsar at the nebula's core is driving the filaments outward. Some differences between the images likely relate to instrument changes on Hubble. The 1999 image was taken with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 instrument, which NASA astronauts replaced with the Wide Field Camera 3 in 2009 during Hubble's last servicing mission. Each instrument took several shots to create a mosaic image of the full nebula. Wide Field Camera 3 has a slightly greater range, both in surface area and imaging filters.

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Hubble image of the Crab Nebula (2024)

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Hubble image of the Crab Nebula (1999)

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Universe News

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Testing Begins for Katalyst-NASA Swift Boost Mission

‘Interstellar Glaciers’: NASA’s SPHEREx Maps Vast Galactic Ice Regions

NASA Finds Young Stars Dim in X-rays Surprisingly Quickly

NASA’s Webb Redefines Dividing Line Between Planets, Stars

International Collaboration Helps Pinpoint Universe’s Expansion Rate

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