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This Spiraling Stream of Gas Just Revealed The Rotation of Historic Comet NEOWISE. – ScienceAlert
When Comet NEOWISE streaked by Earth in July, we were dazzled by a plethora of stunning photographs of the twin-tailed space rock.
When Comet NEOWISE streaked by Earth in July, we were dazzled by a plethora of stunning photographs of the twin-tailed space rock.
But none were remotely like images taken by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. In optical wavelengths, the telescope imaged a stream of dust and molecular gas spiralling out from the nucleus – the chunk of rock at the core of the comet.
That gas is spiralling because the nucleus rotates, a bit like a sprinkler spraying out a spiralling stream of water. By studyi…
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