Some Comets are Naked, and One Just Got Caught Photo-Bombing

Researchers found this image of comet 28P/Neujmin in the archives of Japan's Subaru Telescope and its Subaru Prime Focus Camera (Suprime-Cam). It turned out to be from almost the perfect angle to study the comet from. It's a naked comet without a coma, and these lucky observations gave astronomers a great look at its surface. Image Credit: NAOJ

Japanese researchers got lucky when a comet they wanted to study was found photo-bombing archival images from Japan’s Subaru Telescope. The Subaru, with its 8.2 meter mirror, happened to image comet 28P/Neujmin from just the right angle to accurately characterize its surface. Their work is part of the ongoing effort to understand comets and asteroids, why some of them share properties, and what that means for their formation and evolution as Solar System objects.

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