Comet Hyakutake on 3/22/96.
Click on image for full size
Night of the Comet/NASA
Comet Hyakutake
Comet Hyakutake was found on January 30, 1996 by a man in Japan named Yuji Hyakutake. He spotted it using strong binoculars. This comet was visible from late March until late April, 1996. On March 25, the comet reached its closest approach to Earth of 9.3 million miles away.
Comet Hyakutake has probably not approached Earth for thousands of years. Astronomers observing comet Hyakutake found large quantities of the
molecules ethane (C2H6)
and methane (CH4), so far not found in other comets. Astronomers for the first time also observed X-rays being emitted from a comet.
Finding these usual molecules in a comet suggests that comet Hyakutake may be a new type of comet. An abundance of ethane comparable to that of methane implies
that comet Hyakutake must have experienced very different
conditions during its birth than other comets that do not
contain ethane.
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Learn about Earth and space science, and have fun while doing it! The
games section of our
online store includes a
climate change card game and the
Traveling Nitrogen game!
You might also be interested in:
A bit of background The solar wind coming from the Sun can steal electrons from atoms found in comets. These stolen electrons start off very excited (with lots of energy). Electrons can't stay in an excited
...more A bit of background The solar wind coming from the Sun can steal electrons from atoms found in comets. These stolen electrons start off very excited (with lots of energy). Electrons can't stay in an excited
...more
Hale-Bopp continues to offer new surprises as two astronomers report of their study of the comet. Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Ultraviolet Explorer, the astronomers did a year-long
...more
Six spacecraft flew by Halley's comet in 1986. There were two spacecraft launched from Japan, Suisei and Sakigake, and two from the Soviet Union, Vega 1 & 2. One spacecraft, ICE, from the United States
...more
Comets are observed to go around the sun in a long period of time or a short period of time. Thus they are named "long-period" or "short-period" comets. One group of short-period comets, called the Jupiter
...more
Scientists have learned a great deal from the crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Scientists traced the orbit of the comet backwards in time to guess its origin. The crash of a comet like Shoemaker-Levy 9
...more
Mathematical theory suggests that comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was likely a short-period comet which was captured into orbit around Jupiter in 1929 and began to execute the path plotted in this diagram. This
...more
