Interstellar Comet Borisov Shines in Incredible New Hubble Photos

[Judi Lynn]

By Chelsea Gohd 8 hours ago



Comet 2I/Borisov is the first interstellar comet ever observed by humans. These two images, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, capture the comet appearing near a background galaxy on Nov. 16 (left) and after the object's closest approach to the sun, on Dec. 9 (right). (Image credit: NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA))


Two new "ghostly" images catch the first observed interstellar comet whizzing by the sun and in front of a distant, spiral galaxy on the object's way back out of our solar system.

On Nov. 16 and Monday (Dec. 9), NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped two incredible and ghostly new photos of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, the first interstellar comet ever observed. Amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov first spotted the comet on Aug. 30.

Borisov's discovery was the first of its kind. While 'Oumuamua, an interstellar asteroid, was discovered in 2017, this object, also known as C/2019 Q4, is the first-ever interstellar comet that humans have spotted.

"This object is, we believe, a visitor from interstellar space. It was discovered in August of this year, and based on what its observations and its orbit, we believe it is a comet from another planetary system," NASA planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel said during a discussion about 2I/Borisov on NASA TV's media channel on Friday (Dec. 13).

More:
https://www.space.com/interstellar-comet-borisov-new-hubble-telescope-photos.html