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…
Tag: Comet
Dinosaur-killing space rock may have originated at the edge of the solar system
The chunk of space rock that killed the nonavian dinosaurs may have been a piece of a comet that Jupiter’s gravity kicked onto a collision course with Earth. Source: https://www.livescience.com/dinosaur-killing-comet-oort-cloud.html
Comet or asteroid: What killed the dinosaurs and where did it come from?
It forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-comet-asteroid-dinosaurs.html…
The 1st sign of intelligent life beyond Earth?
Physicist Avi Loeb of Harvard believes we should take seriously the idea that ‘Oumuamua – the 1st known object to pass through our solar system from interstellar space – might have been created by an alien civilization. His new book is called “Extraterrestrial.” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/book-avi-loeb-extraterrestrial-1st-sign-of-intelligent-life…
What’s the difference between asteroids and comets?
Asteroids and comets are generally composed of different materials and reside in different locations of the solar system, while some rare objects display characteristics of both. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/whats-the-difference-between-comets-and-asteroids…
MESSENGER saw a meteoroid strike Mercury
Telescopes have captured meteoroids hitting the Moon and several spacecraft imaged Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 smacking into Jupiter in 1994. But impacts as they happen on another rocky world have never been observed. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-messenger-meteoroid-mercury.html…
Newly found Comet Leonard might become 2021’s brightest
The first comet to be found in 2021 – labeled C/2021 A1 (Leonard) – might become the brightest comet of this year! Charts and more info here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/bright-comet-c-2021-a1-leonard-2021-2022…
The sky in 2020
A collection of astronomical photos of 2020 from southern British Columbia, Canada. The music is ‘Windswept’ by Kevin Macleod. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/video-the-sky-in-2020…
Recently discovered comet seen during 2020 total solar eclipse
As Chile and Argentina witnessed the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, unbeknownst to skywatchers, a little tiny speck was flying past the Sun—a recently discovered comet. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-comet-total-solar-eclipse.html…
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe had a surprise close encounter with a comet
A spacecraft on a mission to the sun had a surprise encounter with a comet last year – and discovered evidence that it may not be a comet after all Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2263407-nasas-parker-solar-probe-had-a-surprise-close-encounter-with-a-comet/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…