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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

The two components of ISON

The two components of ISON
The two components of ISON On June 13, 2013 the Spitzer Space Telescope imaged comet ISON with its two available filters around 3.6 and 4.5 micrometers wavelength. The image on the left is the 3.6-micron image, dominated by dust reflecting sunlight, which is also drawn out as a little tail. On the right this dust component has been subtracted from the 4.5-micron image, leaving only a spherical shell of glowing gas. NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL/UCF