NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this image of the young comet P/2019 LD2 as it orbits near Jupiter's captured ancient asteroids, which are called Trojans. The Hubble view reveals a 400,000-mile-long tail of dust and gas flowing from the wayward comet's bright solid nucleus.
For the first time, a wayward comet-like object has been spotted near the family of ancient asteroids.
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 population.
Quite a lot has been going on:
Dust From Asteroid That Ended Dinosaur Reign Closes Case on Impact Extinction Theory
Having dominated the planet's surface for hundreds of millions of years, dinosaur diversity came to a dramatic conclusion some 66 million years ago at the hot end of an asteroid impact with what is today Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
An international team of researchers collaborating on a study of material from the Yucatán Peninsula's famous Chicxulub impact crater has finally matched the chemical signature of meteoritic dust within its rock with that of the geological boundary representing the dinosaur extinction event.
School students in India discover 18 new asteroids
Over the last two years, 150 students from all around India participated in this two month long campaign to find asteroids, making this the largest asteroid discovery project in India
Asteroid 7-times size of Big Ben to pass Earth - NASA tracks 'potentially hazardous'
Close approaches occur whenever an object comes within 0.05 astronomical units (au) of Earth or about 4.6 million miles.
While this might not seem threatening at first glance, on the grand scale of the solar system, it is close enough for astronomers to pay attention.
NASA said: "As they orbit the Sun, near-Earth objects (NEOs) can occasionally approach close to Earth.
"Note that a 'close' passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres."
This may worth something:
Comet That Has Travelled for Billions of Kilometres Makes Surprise Pit Stop Near Jupiter's
A young comet-like object that had been travelling for several billions of kilometres towards the Sun has now made a pit stop around a group of ancient asteroids near Jupiter, as per the observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
This wayward, unexpected visitor belongs to a class of icy bodies called centaurs, which are found between Jupiter and Neptune. The comet itself, however, appears to have come from the Kuiper Belt—a region of icy debris beyond Neptune's orbit. When such comets approach the Sun, they get activated for the first time by the rising heat, which dynamically transforms them into a more comet-like body.
Asteroid 2021 flyby: Space rock twice the size of a blue whale to pass Earth at 58,000mph |
According to analysis from the space agency, the asteroid is travelling through the solar system at 26 kilometres per second.
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NASA has revealed the asteroid will reach its closest point to Earth on Saturday, February 27, when it will be 4.2 times the distance of the Earth and the Moon, or more than 1.5 million kilometres from us.
Nonetheless, this is still close enough for the asteroid to be considered a "near Earth object" (NEO) by NASA.
Happening on Twitter
After traveling several billion miles toward the Sun, a comet found a temporary parking place near Jupiter's astero… https://t.co/EOrQAIYK4V NASAGoddard (from Greenbelt, MD USA) Sat Feb 27 15:10:14 +0000 2021
For the first time, a young comet-like object has been spotted near Jupiter's ancient Trojan asteroids. @NASAHubble… https://t.co/lyQ4HLPNiv NASAJPL (from Pasadena, Calif.) Fri Feb 26 16:43:18 +0000 2021
🛑 Pit stop! Hubble spotted a comet that found a temporary parking place near Jupiter's asteroids. This is the firs… https://t.co/eLlJFQDmqr NASAHubble (from Goddard Space Flight Center) Thu Feb 25 17:04:49 +0000 2021
So Jupiter has temporarily trapped a comet from the outer solar system that it will eventually drop toward the Sun… https://t.co/q9hGfEVW5m BadAstronomer (from Boulder) Fri Feb 26 16:11:08 +0000 2021
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