Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Comet NEOWISE Was Spiraling and Spinning as it Passed by Earth

The rotation of Comet NEOWISE is revealed in eight images captured over one-and-a-half hours on 1 August by the Gemini North telescope using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph. In the compressed time-lapse sequence below, the images are looped nine times. Image: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Drahus/P. Guzik

Earlier this week, we shared an image of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. And now, here are a group of images from the 8.1-metre Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. Like Hubble, Gemini North focused in on the comet’s nucleus and coma, instead of its stunning, gossamer tails. But Gemini zoomed in and caught something Hubble didn’t: Comet NEOWISE was rotating, which created a spiraling stream of molecular gas.

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