Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Comet Halley's Nucleus

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 10, 1996 is “Comet Halley's Nucleus,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Comet Halley’s Nucleus Credit: Halley Multicolour Camera Team, Giotto, ESA Copyright: MPAE). The original explanation runs about 153 words.

Comet Halley's Nucleus
Credit: Comet Halley’s Nucleus Credit: Halley Multicolour Camera Team, Giotto, ESA Copyright: MPAE Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Explanation : Here is what a comet nucleus really looks like. For all active comets except Halley , it was only possible to see the surrounding opaque gas cloud called the coma .”

— APOD editors, December 10, 1996

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 10, 1996
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Comet Halley’s Nucleus Credit: Halley Multicolour Camera Team, Giotto, ESA Copyright: MPAE
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 153 words

All of December 1996 → · 1996 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Comets

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 10 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.