This is an artist's impression of a small Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) occulting a star. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recorded this brief event and allowed astronomers to determine that the KBO was only one-half of a mile across, setting a new record for the smallest object ever seen in the Kuiper Belt.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Description | Kuiper Belt Object |
| Distance | 4.2 billion miles (6.8 billion kilometers) |
| Dimensions | 3,200 feet across |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The science team includes: H. Schlichting (California Institute of Technology/University of Toronto), E. Ofek (California Institute of Technology/Einstein Fellow), M. Wenz (NASA/GSFC), R. Sari (California Institute of Technology/Hebrew University), A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), M. Livio and E. Nelan (STScI), and S. Zucker (Tel Aviv University). |
| Instrument | HST>FGS |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The 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. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
