Hubble - the Asteroid Hunter
This is a broken asteroid trail crossing the outer regions of galaxy NGC 4548 in Coma Berenices. Five trail segments (shown in white) were extracted from individual exposures and added to a cleaned colour image of the galaxy.
The asteroid enters the image at top center and moves down toward the lower left. Large gaps in the trail occur because the telescope is orbiting the Earth and cannot continuously observe the galaxy.
Credit:
About the Image
NASA press release
NASA caption
NASA caption
| Id: | opo9810e |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 9 March 1998, 15:00 |
| Size: | 600 x 600 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Asteroid, M 91, Messier 91, NGC 4548 |
| Type: | • Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred • Solar System Images/Videos |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical V |
555 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 |
| Infrared I |
814 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 |
