 |
Hartley 2 comet (Credit: IPAC-Caltech) |
The comet, which is about .8 miles in diameter was roughly 2.3 astronomical units away from the sun when this image got taken (an astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the sun). The fuzziness in the background of the image is due to dust from the solar system.
Astronomers say Hartley 2 should be visible with the naked eye on Oct. 20, when it gets within 11 million miles of the Earth. That will be the closest Hartley 2 has ever come to the Earth since its discovery.
