Side By Side of Hubble’s New 2I/Borisov Observations

Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object known to have passed through our Solar System. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has recently revisited this comet for two new observations:

Left: In this image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in November 2019, the comet appears in front of a distant background spiral galaxy. The galaxy’s bright central core is smeared in the image because Hubble was tracking the comet. Borisov was approximately 326 million kilometres from Earth in this exposure. Its tail of ejected dust streaks off to the upper right.

Right: In December 2019, Hubble revisited the comet shortly after its closest approach to the Sun. The comet is 298 million kilometres from Earth in this photo, near the inner edge of the asteroid belt. The nucleus, an agglomeration of ices and dust, is still too small to be resolved. The bright central portion is a coma made up of dust leaving the surface.