Contact: Monica Talevi
monica.talevi@esa.int
31-71-565-3223
European Space Agency

ESA observes Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 breaking apart

Caption: These images of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, in the act of disintegrating, were taken on 7 May 2006 by SCAM, an ultra fast photon counting camera attached to the ESA Optical Ground Station on Tenerife, Spain. It shows three of the new fragments produced by the splitting of the Fragment B – one of the five original fragments into which the comet split in 1996. The spatial resolution of the images is about 70 km.

Credit: ESA

Usage Restrictions: None

Related news release: ESA's new camera follows disintegration of a comet