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Post by jandl100 on Sept 12, 2019 17:51:18 GMT
Do you remember that interstellar asteroid/thing from while back? - the unpronouncable Oumuamua. Well, it looks very much like there's another object passing through our solar system, and this time we are seeing it's definitely a comet and is heading in from the outside so there will be lots of time to really study this one ... Oumuamua was only detected on its way out of the solar system. www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49676757Follow the Twitter Blog online as the astronomers seek to confirm this. twitter.com/tony873004Exciting stuff. Lots to be learned.  Here's a diagram from that Blog of the current estimate of its trajectory through the solar system. Its closest approach to the sun is near the orbit of Mars.  |
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Post by MartinT on Sept 12, 2019 21:11:21 GMT
Is there a video animation of the above, Jerry? I'm interested in how close Earth will be when it passes the orbit of Mars.
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 13, 2019 6:25:24 GMT
I think there are some animations on that Blog link I gave above. I tried clicking on one but it didn't seem to work for me.
I'm just guessing, but as it's a comet it could be visible to the naked eye if it turns out to be a very active one.
I imagine this will turn into quite a strong and long running popular news item over the next few months.
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 13, 2019 7:06:53 GMT
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 16, 2019 16:12:28 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Oct 16, 2019 16:44:35 GMT
Brilliant video, though, when you think about it.
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 16, 2019 16:57:12 GMT
Yes, a great 3D visualisation of the comet's path around our solar system.
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Post by jandl100 on Nov 6, 2019 10:05:47 GMT
2I/Borosov - the I stands for interstellar, the 2 as it's the 2nd one ever knowingly detected - continues to look absolutely unexceptional. Apart from its trajectory - which has come from and will return to interstellar space - it seems indistinguishable from comets which orbit in our solar system. This is in sharp contradistiction to 1I/Oumuamua which was very different indeed and may have been an elongated shard of rock resulting from a planetary smash up in another solar system. www.syfy.com/syfywire/update-the-interstellar-comet-2iborisov-is-still-not-acting-very-alien'So, in the end, this comet may be from an entirely different star system, but it doesn't look alien at all. ... Which is still extremely cool. Why? Because it shows us that a fundamental principle of astronomy is true. Stated simply, it's that the rules here are the same as the rules everywhere. The same physics, the same chemistry, the same elements, the same processes — the ones we see all around us are the same ones occurring everywhere.' |
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Post by Firebottle on Nov 7, 2019 8:25:45 GMT
No alien science? No anti gravity? Come on Jerry, dig deeper.
Just kidding, carry on it's still fascinating.
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Post by jandl100 on Nov 27, 2019 12:06:55 GMT
Latest photo of the incoming interstellar comet  "That white ghostly shroud surrounding the icy comet – which is currently drawing nearer to Earth – is called a coma: a cloud of gas and dust that drift into space as the object's icy nucleus sublimates in the heat of starlight. In the case of 2I/Borisov, much of this outgassed matter trails behind the comet in an epic tail that currently measures almost 100,000 miles long – over a dozen Earth diameters in a row. "It's humbling to realise how small Earth is next to this visitor from another solar system," says one of the Yale team, Pieter van Dokkum. 2I/Borisov is projected to reach its closest approach to the Sun in early December, and to Earth later in the month – after which it will continue on its way out of our cosmic neighbourhood, taking what remains of its icy mystery with it to whichever distant stars beckon next." www.sciencealert.com/stunning-pic-of-first-detected-interstellar-comet-reveals-a-pale-ghost-headed-our-way |
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Post by jandl100 on Dec 8, 2019 15:25:06 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Dec 8, 2019 15:38:08 GMT
Sadly my 8" telescope is not going to do the job, even if I were skilled enough to set it up pointing in the right direction, which I'm not.
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 21, 2020 7:53:02 GMT
Interstellar comet Borisov may be breaking up as it exits solar system. The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov is starting to brighten, suggesting it may be breaking apart as it makes its way out of our solar system. The comet was first spotted in August last year, and astronomers have been keenly following it ever since. A team in Poland was the first to report outbursts from the comet in early March, more than doubling its brightness. That suggests it is emitting material after being heated by the sun during its close approach in December 2019. Two views of the 2I/Borisov comet, taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope ...  Read more: www.newscientist.com/article/2238063-interstellar-comet-borisov-may-be-breaking-up-as-it-exits-solar-system/#ixzz6HJ90dgTO |
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 23, 2020 7:25:46 GMT
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Post by user211 on Mar 25, 2020 1:18:09 GMT
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Post by jandl100 on Apr 3, 2020 10:37:43 GMT
Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Really Is Breaking Apart, According to New Data April 2020 It travelled light-years across space before winding up in the Solar System. New data show that the comet is coming apart. "It's pretty normal for comets to break up as they reach and pass perihelion (closest approach to the Sun). What we think happens has to do with outgassing, due to the sublimation of cometary ices as they are heated by the Sun. This is thought to spin up the comet's nucleus, causing it to fragment under centripetal instability."  www.sciencealert.com/interstellar-comet-2i-borisov-is-breaking-apart |
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Post by TheMooN on Apr 3, 2020 16:17:43 GMT
This thread had me watching Armageddon last night, whilst not quite a SciFi classic it passed a hour or so.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 3, 2020 19:52:53 GMT
I thought it was utter crap compared with Deep Impact.
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on Apr 4, 2020 12:29:55 GMT
Yeah but it’s got Liv Tyler in it..
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Post by jandl100 on Apr 4, 2020 12:31:09 GMT
There's a hobbit in Deep Impact
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