Celestial Fireworks
Celestial Fireworks
Image courtesy AURA/STScI/ESA/NASA
Looking like a skyrocket from a fireworks show, Comet ISON is seen here in this false-color image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on May 8, as it heads toward an encounter with the sun later this year.
At the time this image was taken, the giant icy visitor from the outer solar system was still 408 million miles (656 million kilometers) from Earth, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
The teardrop-shaped tail of this potential "comet of the century" is formed from gas and dust flung off its icy nucleus as it begins to melt from the heat of the sun.
Over the next few months as it approaches the sun, it's predicted to produce a bigger and brighter tail that may become easily visible from Earth at the end of November 2013.
