Comet Hale Bopp gas distribution

In the course of the continuing observational programme at the ESO La Silla Observatory in the Chilean Atacama desert, CCD frames of Comet Hale-Bopp were obtained on 1 October 1997 with the 2.2-m ESO/MPI telescope. These images show only the central part of the well developed cloud of gas and dust (the coma) around the cometary nucleus (the 'dirty snowball' of ice and dust). The field of view is about 3 x 3 arcmin, corresponding to about 1/100th of the full moon area in the sky. At the present distance of the comet from the Earth, about 3.1 AU or 465 million km, this field corresponds to about 400,000 x 400,000 km. The coma of the comet is still much larger and extends far beyond the border of this image.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso9726a
Type:Observation
Date de publication:8 octobre 1997
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso9726
Taille:684 x 678 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Comet Hale-Bopp
Type:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Coma
Catégorie:Solar System

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
543,8 Kio
JPEG taille écran
861,1 Kio

Fonds d'écran

1024x768
788,7 Kio
1280x1024
1,1 Mio
1600x1200
1,3 Mio
1920x1200
1,4 Mio
2048x1536
1,8 Mio

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineTélescope
Visible
V
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Ultraviolet
U
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI