Hubble Sees First-Time Icy Visitor Comet K2

  • Released Thursday, September 28, 2017
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observed the farthest-discovered active inbound comet, Comet K2. K2 came from the distant Oort Cloud and is visiting our inner solar system for the first (and only) time. Since we're seeing it so far away, past the orbit of Saturn, K2 is still in its early phase of activity, likely making it the most primitive comet anyone has ever seen.

Read the web story on nasa.gov.

Download the Hubble images on HubbleSite.org.

Read the science paper here.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Music credit: "Space Cake" by Donn Wilerson [BMI] and Lance Sumner [BMI]; Killer Tracks BMI; Killer Tracks Production Music.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, September 28, 2017.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM EDT.

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