Images by other observatories confirmed this, including Hubble. When they looked at the comet in April 2020 they saw it sporting quite a grand tail, extending for about 600,000 kilometers, nearly twice the distance of the Moon from the Earth! Mind you, the nucleus the solid part of the comet is probably only about 4 kilometers across.
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Hubble image of the unusual comet P/2019 LD2, which is currently orbiting the Sun near Jupiter, but will soon be ejected from the solar system. Credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Bolin (Caltech)
Calculations show that around that time it was losing about 80 kilograms of water ice per second. It was also shedding gases like carbon monoxide (about 50 kilos/second), carbon dioxide (7 kilos/second) and diatomic carbon (two carbon atoms bound together; at a rate of 40 grams per second).
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Hubble telescope has caught a Centaur comet entering the orbit around Jupiter on camera for the
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IMAGE: Astronomers found a roaming comet taking a rest stop before possibly continuing its journey. The wayward object made a temporary stop near giant Jupiter. The icy visitor has plenty of. view more
Credit: Credits: NASA, ESA, and B. Bolin (Caltech)
After traveling several billion miles toward the Sun, a wayward young comet-like object orbiting among the giant planets has found a temporary parking place along the way. The object has settled near a family of captured ancient asteroids, called Trojans, that are orbiting the Sun alongside Jupiter. This is the first time a comet-like object has been spotted near the Trojan population.
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