There are two new images on the internet of the first observed interstellar comet that’s going past the sun, and that’s in front of a spiral galaxy on its way back outside our solar system.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope caught two amazing new pictures of the 2I/Borisov interstellar comet, which is the first one of this kind to be ever observed. An amateur astronomer, called Gennady Borisov, first saw it on the 30th of August.
Borisov’s discovery was the first of its kind, really. We all know about the interstellar asteroid, ‘Oumuamua, which was discovered back in 2017. It is also known as C/2019 Q4, and it is the first interstellar come that us, humans, have found.
NASA Captured The Borisov Interstellar Comet In New Images
As scientists believe, the object is actually a visitor coming from the interstellar space. As said before, it was discovered back in August, and based on what we know so far, we think it is a comet from another planetary system. NASA’s planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel talked about this in a discussion about 2I/Borisov on NASA TV’s media channel.
In one of the images, the comet is seen about 203 million miles from Earth, and it stays in front of a distant spiral galaxy, which is called 2MASX J10500165-0152029. The tail of the dust of the comet can be clearly seen. You can also see the bright core; Hubble was also tracking the movement.
In both of the images, 2I/Borisov has been colored blue, because this is how we can better see the details, and the material which surrounds the comet’s core. This way is also easier for us to see the difference between the spiral galaxy and the comet.
