Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

The Hubble Space Telescope provided astronomers with extraordinary views of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, a fragile comet that was rapidly disintegrating as it approached the Sun in 2006. Hubble images uncovered many more fragments than were reported by ground-based observers. These observations provided an unprecedented opportunity to study the demise of a comet nucleus. Hubble shows several dozen "mini-comets" trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material. Deep-freeze relics of the early solar system, cometary nuclei are porous and fragile mixes of dust and ices that can break apart due to the thermal, gravitational, and dynamical stresses of approaching the Sun. For more information, visit: hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2006-18