The explosive, city-size"devil comet" that is due to fly past Earth later this year has a hidden spiral of light surrounding its gigantic icy heart, new images show. This glowing green swirl would likely have remained undetected without a bit of photo wizardry.
12P hit the headlines in July last year, when astronomers watched it blow its top for the first time in 69 years. Since then it has continued to erupt fairly frequently. During the initial eruptions, the comet's expanded coma had an irregular shape, caused by a notch in the nucleus that blocked cryomagma outflow. This made the comet look like it had grown demonic horns, which earned the icy object its sinister nickname.
On March 9, astrophotographer Jan Erik Vallestad captured highly detailed new images of 12P and its lengthy tail from Norway, and after using specialized software to focus on the varying intensity of the coma's light, he was able to highlight a previously unseen spiral within its coma. Last month, grainy images of the comet also showed a"yin-yang" shape in the comet's coma, which in retrospect may have been the first evidence of this spiral. But at the time, this connection was not made.
Portugal Últimas Notícias, Portugal Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
Fonte: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Consulte Mais informação »
Fonte: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Consulte Mais informação »
Fonte: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Consulte Mais informação »