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Phil Chambers [ptchamb@No-Spam] (S.F. Bay Area - Calif. USA)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1999 15:37:30 EDT
From: nexstar5in@No-Spam
Reply-To: nexstar@No-Spam
To: nexstar@No-Spam
Subject: [NexStar5/8 Group] Linear blows its top: Hubble captures it on film
(okay, CCD)
CONTACTS: Donna Weaver
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4493, E-mail: dweaver@No-Spam)
Michael Purdy
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-516-7160, E-mail: mcp@No-Spam)
HUBBLE SEES COMET LINEAR BLOW ITS TOP
Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were surprised to
catch the comet LINEAR (C/1999 S4) in a brief, violent outburst when
it blew off a piece of its crust, like a cork popping off a champagne
bottle. The eruption, the comet's equivalent of a volcanic explosion
(though temperatures are far below freezing, at about minus 100 degrees
Fahrenheit in the icy regions of the nucleus or core), spewed a great
deal of dust into space. This mist of dust reflected sunlight,
dramatically increasing the comet's brightness over several hours.
Hubble's sharp vision recorded the entire event and even snapped a
picture of the chunk of material jettisoned from the nucleus and
floating away along the comet's tail.
To read the press release and view the photographs, click on
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/26.
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Clear skies,
-John Steinberg
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