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This comet was also found to be made from a cold space cloud, which is why it is made of dust and ice loosely compacted. [61] To investigate the nucleus of the comet, the Rosetta spacecraft passed radio waves through the comet. [61] This experiment showed that the head of the comet was very porous. [61]
Laboratory experiments spanning the entire parameter spectrum have studied the consequences of mutual dust collisions. [177] These experiments consistently demonstrate that micron-sized dust grains can grow into millimeter-sized aggregates. Outside the frost line icy aggregates can directly grow to comet or icy planetesimal sizes.
Comet orbits had been determined quite precisely, yet comets were at times recovered "off-schedule," by as much as days. Early comets could be explained by a "resisting medium"—such as "the aether", or the cumulative action of meteoroids against the front of the comet(s). [citation needed] But comets could return both early and late. Whipple ...
Science & Tech. Sports. Weather. 24/7 ... finds that the dark silicate glass strewn across a vast swath of the Atacama Desert was created by an exploding comet around 12,000 years ago. (Image/P.H ...
Comet Kohoutek (formally designated C/1973 E1 and formerly as 1973 XII and 1973f) [c] is a comet that passed close to the Sun towards the end of 1973. Early predictions of the comet's peak brightness suggested that it had the potential to become one of the brightest comets of the 20th century, capturing the attention of the wider public and the press and earning the comet the moniker of "Comet ...
Due to the massive size of its nucleus, Comet Hale–Bopp was observed intensively by astronomers during its perihelion passage, and several important advances in cometary science resulted from these observations. The dust production rate of the comet was very high (up to 2.0 × 10 6 kg/s), [43] which may have made the inner coma optically ...
The 96P sungrazer family is a small group of sungrazing comets, originating from the comet 96P/Machholz. It is only observed by LASCO corongraphs aboard SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) probe. It contains three subgroups: Marsden, Kracht and Kracht II.
The STS-51-L mission carried the Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (Spartan Halley) satellite, also called the Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable (HCED). [157] The mission to capture the ultraviolet spectrum of the comet ended in disaster when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in flight, killing all seven astronauts onboard. [158]