Hubble Spots Vagabond Comet Near Jupiter's Asteroids
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this image of the young comet P/2019 LD2 as it orbits near Jupiter's captured ancient asteroids, which are called Trojans. This icy object is the first comet astronomers have spotted near the Trojan population.
The Hubble view reveals a 400,000-mile-long tail of dust and gas flowing from the wayward comet's bright solid nucleus. The tail is evidence that the icy object is active, despite its great distance from the faint Sun, nearly a half-billion miles away. The tail could be driven by the release of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These volatiles do not need much sunlight to heat their frozen form and convert them to gas.
The wayfaring comet was discovered in early June 2019 by the University of Hawaii's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope.
The icy interloper is most likely one of the latest members of the so-called "bucket brigade" of comets to travel inward toward the Sun after getting kicked out of its frigid home in the Kuiper belt through interactions with the outermost giant planet, Neptune.
Located on the outskirts of our solar system, the Kuiper belt is a haven of icy, leftover debris from our planets' construction 4.6 billion years ago.
The vagabond comet is a temporary resident among Jupiter's asteroids. Computer simulations show that the unexpected guest will have a close encounter with Jupiter in roughly another two years. The massive planet will boot the comet toward the inner solar system.
This Hubble visible-light image is a combination of exposures taken April 1 and May 8, 2020, with the Wide Field Camera 3.
Credits
Image
NASA, ESA, STScI, Bryce Bolin (IPAC)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Trojan Asteroid 2019 LD2 |
| Object Description | Comet |
| Distance | At the time of observations, the comet was 4.02 AU from Earth (374 million miles). |
| About The Data | |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | 1 April 2020 and 8 May 2020 |
| Filters | F350LP |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is an exposure acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning the color blue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. |
| Compass Image |  |
| 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. |
