Hubble Spots Farthest-Ever Incoming Active Comet
A new image reveals a distant newcomer to our solar system: the farthest active comet ever spotted, heading toward the sun for the first time.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a view of Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), called K2 for short, as it came in from out beyond Saturn's orbit, 1.5 billion miles from the sun. As it approaches the sun and the temperature rises from minus 440 degrees Fahrenheit, the comet is developing a fluffy cloud of dust, called a coma , which surrounds its frozen body. While the comet's nucleus appears to be just 12 miles across, the coma stretches 10 times Earth's diameter.
According to a statement from NASA , K2 likely began its journey in the spherical Oort Cloud surrounding the solar system, which hosts hundreds of billions of comets and stretches almost a light-year across. Because it's the comet's first trip into the solar system, its composition could reflect conditions in the early system, before planets formed. [ Photos: Spectacular Comet Views from Earth and Space ]
https://www.space.com/38307-distant-active-comet-approaches-hubble-image.html
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