COMET HYAKUTAKE

Image 1: These are NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of comet Hyakutake (designated C/1996 B2), taken at 8:30 P.M., EST on Monday, March 25 when the comet passed at a distance of only 9.3 million miles from Earth. Unlike most of the published images of Hyakutake, these Hubble images focus on a very small region near the heart of the comet, the icy, solid nucleus. The Hubble images provide an exceptionally clear view of the near-nucleus region of comet Hyakutake. (1998) Image Credit: H. A. Weaver (Applied Research Corp.), HST Comet Hyakutake Observing Team, and NASA More Information: STSI home page Image 2: On January 31, 1996, IAU circular 6299 reported the visual discovery of a comet by Yuji Hyakutake of Japan. Comet Hyakutake, also designated Comet C/1996 B2, approached within 0.1 AU of the Earth (about 15 million km) on March 25. Perihelion on May 1 saw the comet at a distance of 0.23 AU from the Sun. After perihelion, the comet should be visible in the southern hemisphere from the middle of May to early June. Image Credit: NASA More Information: NASA home page