Comet 17P/Holmes Bust?
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The image on the right of comet Holmes was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope in March 2008. 5 months previously the comet had brightened incredibly.
Once very 6 years comet 17P/Holmes travels towards the Sun from the area of Jupiter. It always follows the same route and usually this occurs without incident. But during the last 116 years comet Holmes has twice exploded, once in November 1892 and the second time in October 2007. On both occasions it exploded as it reached the asteroid belt. As yet astronomers have offered no explanation as to why this happened.
Tags: 17P/Holmes, comet Holmes, Exploding comets, Spitzer Space Telescope