National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Subaru Captures Crumbling Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

| Science

The Subaru telescope recently focused its attention on Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 and its crumbling nucleus. Using Suprime-Cam, astronomers studied a chunk called Fragment B when the comet was only 16.5 million kilometers from Earth. The resulting detailed image shows that as many as thirteen mini-comets have recently broken off from the fragment

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More info: Subaru telescope web page