'Dark comets': Nasa studies mysterious new kids in our solar system
3 months, 1 week ago

'Dark comets': Nasa studies mysterious new kids in our solar system

India Today  

NASA scientists are closely studying a new class of celestial objects known as “dark comets”, the little-known celestial objects which have been challenging the human understanding of both comets and asteroids. These comets fall into two main categories: “outer dark comets,” which have eccentric orbits and are larger, and “inner dark comets,” which are smaller and closer to the Sun, with nearly circular orbits. As Farnocchia pointed out, “there could be way more dark comets than we know” in the inner Solar System, which highlights the importance of studying these objects. With further study, dark comets could provide valuable insights into the early Solar System and Earth’s origins.

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History of this topic

What is a dark comet? A quick guide to the ‘new’ kids in the Solar System
3 months, 1 week ago

What is a dark comet? A quick guide to the ‘new’ kids in the Solar System

The Hindu  

In 2017, NASA discovered and later confirmed the first interstellar object to enter our Solar System. While their nature and origins remain elusive, astronomers recently confirmed dark comets fall into two main categories: smaller objects that reside in our inner Solar System, and larger objects that remain beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Like bright comets, dark comets follow elongated, elliptical …

NASA detects more dark comets, providing more clues to how planets form
3 months, 1 week ago

NASA detects more dark comets, providing more clues to how planets form

Salon  

There’s a lot of stuff in space that we know is there but we can’t see very well or at all. Despite these obstacles, however, scientists publishing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences say they have discovered more dark comets in our solar system than previously thought. The new paper adds an additional seven dark comets …

Dark comets, a cross between asteroids and comets, may be common in our solar system
3 months, 1 week ago

Dark comets, a cross between asteroids and comets, may be common in our solar system

CNN  

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. The discovery doubles the known number of these mysterious celestial objects across our solar system that resemble asteroids but zip through space like comets, albeit without the “tail” comets are known for. “Dark comets are a new class of near-Earth objects that may contain water, so they’re a new potential source for …

What is a dark comet? A quick guide to the ‘new’ kids in the Solar System
Trending News
3 months, 1 week ago

What is a dark comet? A quick guide to the ‘new’ kids in the Solar System

Raw Story  

In 2017, NASA discovered and later confirmed the first interstellar object to enter our Solar System. While their nature and origins remain elusive, astronomers recently confirmed dark comets fall into two main categories: smaller objects that reside in our inner Solar System, and larger objects that remain beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Like bright comets, dark comets follow elongated, elliptical …

Nasa discovers seven new mysterious dark comets that we know very little about
3 months, 2 weeks ago

Nasa discovers seven new mysterious dark comets that we know very little about

India Today  

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of astronomy with the identification of seven new "dark comets," celestial objects that resemble asteroids but exhibit comet-like behavior. The concept of dark comets emerged from observations of asteroid 2003 RM in 2016, which displayed unexpected orbital deviations that could not be explained by typical asteroid dynamics. While dark comets do …

5 spectacular images of asteroids and comets from NASA’s retired NEOWISE mission
3 months, 3 weeks ago

5 spectacular images of asteroids and comets from NASA’s retired NEOWISE mission

Live Mint  

NASA’s old and now-retired NEOWISE, an infrared space telescope that hunts asteroids and comets, gathered an impressive haul of observations throughout its decade in service. The majority of the other dots are stars or galaxies far beyond our solar system Asteroid 2010 TK7 is circled in green, in this single frame taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. …

Scientists find six exocomets using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope
7 years, 5 months ago

Scientists find six exocomets using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope

Firstpost  

The discovery marks the first time that an object as small as a comet has been detected using transit photometry. Scientists have detected the dusty tails of six exocomets — comets outside our solar system — orbiting a faint star 800 light years from Earth. “It’s pretty impressive to be able to see something so small, so far away,” said …

Found: First-ever evidence of comets beyond the solar system orbiting a sun-like star
8 years, 10 months ago

Found: First-ever evidence of comets beyond the solar system orbiting a sun-like star

LA Times  

Just as we have grown accustomed to stories of increasingly small planets being discovered around distant stars, along comes a new study that ups the ante. Instead, they used the European Space Observatory’s ALMA radio telescope to measure low levels of carbon monoxide gas in a debris disk that had formed around the star. “A system is usually expected to …

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