NASA’s Spitzer Captures Strong Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Comet ISON -Comet of the Century [VIDEO]

In the latest images by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have observed strong carbon dioxide emissions from Comet ISON, dubbed the 'comet of the century', which is rapidly approaching Earth. It is anticipated to pass through the inner solar system later this year.

The images were captured on June 13 with Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera. They show carbon dioxide slowly and steadily fizzing away from the 'soda-pop comet' as it streaks across the space with a tail that is nearly 186,400 miles long (300,000 kilometers). When these observations were made, ISON was nearly 312 miles (502 million kilometers) away from the sun and nearly 3.35 times farther than the Earth.

Carey Lisse, leader of NASA's Comet ISON Observation Campaign, claims that nearly 2.2 million pounds (1 million kilogram) of carbon dioxide gas is being emitted by ISON and nearly 120 million pounds (54.4 million kilograms) of dust is being emitted every day.

"Previous observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission and Deep Impact spacecraft gave us only upper limits for any gas emission from ISON. Thanks to Spitzer, we now know for sure the comet's distant activity has been powered by gas," Lisse, who is also a senior research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, said in a press statement.

The researchers are monitoring Comet ISON because they believe it is not just potentially rich with new science but the data retrieved from it might explain how and when the solar system was initially formed.

Officially known as' C/2012 S1', Comet ISON  is made up of a combination of snow, dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia,methane and carbon dioxide. It is actually less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) in diameter and weighs between 7 billion and 7 trillion pounds. The scientists are unable to give the accurate size and density of the comet as it is still at a great distance from Earth. Also they aren't sure how bright ISON will be.

The Comet is believed to be inbound on its first passage from the distant Oort Cloud. As it nears the sun , it is gradually warming up and its gases in turn are heating up to the point of evaporation. Carbon dioxide is believed to be the gas that powers emission for most comets between the orbits of Saturn as asteroids, reports NASA.

The comet of the century is expected to pass within 724,000 miles of the sun on November 28, 2013.

The comet was initially discovered by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok at the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia, roughly between Jupiter and Saturn last September.

In the month of April, the researchers noticed that the comet was emitting 112,000 pounds of dust and 130 pounds of water every minute.

The future of the comet ISON is uncertain. It is possible that the comet will break into pieces due to the intense radiation of the sun. Else, if it survives its trip around the sun, it will make its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 26, 2013 when it will be at a distance of 2.8 million miles. And there is a great chance there will be incredible meteor showers.