NASA
Hubble Sees Material Ejected from Comet Hale-Bopp
October 10, 1995
baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
- These NASA Hubble Space Telescope pictures of comet Hale-Bopp show a
remarkable "pinwheel" pattern and a blob of free-flying debris near the nucleus.
The bright clump of light along the spiral (above the nucleus, which is near the center
of the frame) may be a piece of the comet's icy crust that was ejected into space by a
combination of ice evaporation and the comet's rotation, and which then disintegrated
into a bright cloud of particles.
- Although the "blob" is about 3.5 times fainter than the brightest portion at the nucleus,
the lump appears brighter because it covers a larger area. The debris follows a
spiral pattern outward because the solid nucleus is rotating like a lawn sprinkler,
completing a single rotation about once per week.
