Astronomers Spot New 'Halley-Like' Comet

[NugaBurd]

This article was posted on SOTT at:

http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/articles/show/140586-Astronomers+Spot+New+%27Halley-Like%27+Comet

The original article was posted at:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070925_soho_comet.html

The following would be laughable, were it not so pathetic:

...But as it passed within about 5 billion miles (7.9 million kilometers) of the sun, the comet brightened by a factor of a million - a common behavior for a comet....

OK, so it was only a typo. What really got to me, though, was the paucity of info about this periodic comet. One even had to infer its orbital period's being ~4 years.

In case anyone wants more details about this comet, one can find them at:

http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=P%2F2007%20R5&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Saugus&alt=0&tz=CET

Aphelion is just slightly beyond Jupiter's perihelion.

Martin

 

[Aries331]

What I want to know is "What is an extinct comet nucleus"?

 

[NugaBurd]

For today's project, boys and girls, we're going to make a comet. Doesn't that sound like fun?

(Wild cheers of approval from the audience.)

I've already assembled all of the things that we need. This is a rock. It doesn't matter what size it is, or what kind of rock it is. (Pointing to a contraption on the table) Does anyone know what this is?

It's a Sno-Cone machine!

That's right, Billy. Now we take some of the ice from the Sno-Cone machine, and we mix in some gravel, some dirt and some dust.

Ewww -- gross.

Then we pack it around our rock, and we put it into orbit around the Sun. Each time that our comet heads in toward the Sun, about when it crosses the orbit of Jupiter, it begins to sublimate.

What's sub..sub...what's that word mean?

Radiation from the Sun causes the ice to turn into water vapor, without melting into water first. As it gets closer and closer to the Sun, more and more ice sublimates, releasing gravel, dirt and dust. That is the comet's tail.

Doesn't all of the ice finally sub.sub...burn off?

Yes, Susie, it does. And what is left is just the rock. That is what we call "an extinct comet nucleus."

Martin

P. S. The tone was meant to be humorous, not patronizing. I hope that it was taken in the spirit in which it was written.

 

[Pierre]

P. S. The tone was meant to be humorous, not patronizing. I hope that it was taken in the spirit in which it was written.

I found your tone humorous and your explanation crystal clear (ice clear ?)

Your explanation made me think of a (possible ?) correlation between comets' activity and solar activity. Could we hypothetize the following ?

A comet has an orbital period of X years. Every X years it goes through our solar system following the same (safe) path. But this time things are different, the sun activity is higher than usual.

Thus, when the comet comes closer to our solar system, the sun rays sublimize the ice comet that is fragmenting into numerous smaller rock comets. The change in comet's weight leads (?) to a change in route, and the comet cluster finally goes through the solar system following a different (and unsafe) path.

Could it make sense ?