Compass and Scale Image for Comet ISON

Compass and Scale Image for Comet ISON

Image of Comet ISON, with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

The color key shows which filters from Hubble's WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) instrument were used when collecting the light.

Credits

NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI/AURA)

About The Object
Object Name Comet ISON
Object Description Comet
Distance At the time of the Hubble observations on May 8, 2013, the comet was 3.8 astronomical units (354 million miles) from the Sun. The comet was 4.3 astronomical units (403 million miles) from Earth.
About The Data
Data Description The image was created from Hubble data from proposal by the Hubble Heritage Team, PI: Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, C. Christian, L. Frattare, W. Januszewski, M. Livio, J. Mack, and J. Sokol (STScI/AURA), and K. Noll (NASA/GSFC). High-level science products for these data are available from the .
Instrument HST>WFC3/UVIS
Exposure Dates May 8, 2013
Filters F350LP (long pass)
About The Image
Color Info This image was originally black and white and recorded only overall brightness. These brightness values were translated into a range of bluish hues. Such color "maps" can be useful in helping to distinguish subtly varying brightness in an image.
Compass Image Across a dark background—with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference—a comet appears as a hazy streak that stretches diagonally from the lower left to the upper right of the image. In the lower left side of the comet there is a small but bright, well defined round core. The gas directly around the core is brighter and whiter than the gas that trails the comet. As the tail extends upward and to the right, it becomes dimmer, bluer and tapers. Background stars appear as points of bluish-white light of various sizes. The three most prominent stars appear closer, with large well-defined cores surrounded by a halo of hazy light and four diffraction spikes radiating out from the central core.
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
  • Proposal: 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.
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.

Download