Comet 2I/Borisov Time-Lapse
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Release Date
April 20, 2020 11:00AM (EDT)Read the Release
2020-26Permissions
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Caption
Hubble Tracks Comet Borisov’s Flight Through Solar System
This time-lapse Hubble movie shows comet Borisov's journey through our solar system. Background stars appear as streaks of light because Hubble is tracking the moving comet. The amount of stars changes as the comet travels in front of low- to high-density stellar regions in the background.
The video was created using 37 images taken between Dec. 9, 2019, and Feb. 24, 2020. The total observation time for all of the images was three to four hours. The observations were made on five separate days: Dec. 9, 2019; Dec. 23, 2019; Jan. 3, 2020; Jan. 29, 2020; and Feb. 24, 2020.
The video is composed of images taken in visible light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.