NASA RELEASES PICTURES OF COMET

Internet UFO Group Media Archive

From:NewsProfiles@aol.net
Title:NASA RELEASES PICTURES OF COMET
Source:Reuter
Date:March 27, 1996


WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuter) - Scientists worldwide will

get a closer look at the Comet Hyakutake in pictures taken by

the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and published on Wednesday.

``I believe we got the heart of the comet,'' said Hal

Weaver, who directed the picture-shooting from NASA's Goddard

Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Hubble, which travels in an orbit 350 miles (560 km)

above the earth, circles the globe every 96 minutes. The comet

is unusually close to earth.

Weaver said in a telephone interview that he took 14

pictures at about 8:30 P.M. EST on Monday using the Hubble's

wide-field camera. ``We observed it for about 40 minutes. We

captured our images as the nucleus rotated,'' he said.

He said he plans to take another set of 14 pictures on

Sunday night when the positioning is right.

Scientists are closely examining the comet for clues about

the origins of the solar system. Comets -- ``dirty snowballs''

of rock and ice usually a mile or less to six miles (one to 10

km) long -- have changed very little since the solar system's

birth about 4.5 billion years ago, whereas planets, stars and

other larger bodies have constantly evolved.

Hyakutake -- officially Comet C/1996 B2 -- was discovered in

late January. It will be the fifth closest comet to Earth to

pass by this century and its radio emissions may enable

scientists to detect chemicals that make up its core.