Comet To Make First, And Likely Only, Appearance in Recorded History (cbsnews.com) 37
The new year has just begun, but the cosmos are already set to make history in 2023. From a report: A comet discovered less than a year ago has traveled billions of miles from its believed origins at the edge of our solar system and will be visible in just a few weeks during what will likely be its only recorded appearance. The comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), was first seen in March 2022 as it made its way through Jupiter's orbit. According to NASA, it's a long-period comet believed to come from the Oort Cloud, the most distant region of Earth's solar system that's "like a big, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris" that can get even bigger than mountains. The inner edge of this region is thought to be between 2,000 and 5,000 astronomical units (AUs) from the sun -- between 186 billion and 465 billion miles.
This means that C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has made a rare, once-in-a-lifetime journey to be close to Earth. "Most known long-period comets have been seen only once in recorded history because their orbital periods are so, well, long," NASA says. "Countless more unknown long-period comets have never been seen by human eyes. Some have orbits so long that the last time they passed through the inner solar system, our species did not yet exist."
Now, the recently discovered E3 comet, which has been seen with a bright greenish coma and "short broad" dust tail, is set to make its closest approach to the sun on January 12. It will make its closest approach to Earth on February 2. Astrophotographer Dan Bartlett managed to capture an image of the comet in December from his backyard in California. He was able to see "intricate tail structure" in the comet's plasma tail, he said, and "conditions are improving."
This means that C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has made a rare, once-in-a-lifetime journey to be close to Earth. "Most known long-period comets have been seen only once in recorded history because their orbital periods are so, well, long," NASA says. "Countless more unknown long-period comets have never been seen by human eyes. Some have orbits so long that the last time they passed through the inner solar system, our species did not yet exist."
Now, the recently discovered E3 comet, which has been seen with a bright greenish coma and "short broad" dust tail, is set to make its closest approach to the sun on January 12. It will make its closest approach to Earth on February 2. Astrophotographer Dan Bartlett managed to capture an image of the comet in December from his backyard in California. He was able to see "intricate tail structure" in the comet's plasma tail, he said, and "conditions are improving."
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Cha-cha REE-uh ahh-rawh!
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I'm still waiting for the movie: Snarknado
The cosmos is a singular noun (Score:4, Informative)
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The root word is Greek, and it make no sense to say "the cosmos are..." We don't have to use a plural verb just because a noun ends with an S.
The root word of octopus is greek, and it makes no sense to say octopi. The plural of octopus is octopode.
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The root word of octopus is greek, and it makes no sense to say octopi. The plural of octopus is octopode.
But only the other day I watched a film called the Octopussies, isn't that the plural? There certainly were more than one female in each scene.
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Octopuses, or octopodes.
Re:The cosmos is a singular noun (Score:4, Funny)
Period (Score:3)
So what is the period of this comet?
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So what is the period of this comet?
Had you bothered to read the article, you would have seen this:
"We don't have an estimate for the furthest it will get from the Earth yet — estimates vary — but if it does return it won't be for at least 50,000 years," she said. "...Some predictions suggest that the orbit of this comet is so eccentric it's no longer in an orbit-so it's not going to return at all and will just keep going."
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I understood the post as sarcastic. The headline and the summary tease us about how long is the orbit, then fail to tell us the period -- it's an obvious omission. TFA also tells us a guy took a picture from a backyard and fails to refer to who discovered the comet first place (and that ZTF refers to the name of a facility that was used for the discovery). All the information is in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] though. I am thankful that the editors brought us some space news, as it has been a
Making history (Score:2)
The headline to this article is lame.
Yes, this comet is making its first and only appearance, that is to persons with a powerful enough telescope or pair of binoculars, who live where it won't be cloudy for an entire month, who consult star charts, and who know how to use a star chart well enough to locate this comet. Hale-Bopp it ain't.
Historic? Long-period comets arrive in the Inner Solar System all the time. Maybe such a comet visible in anything smaller than a large telescope happens only every
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Had you bothered to read the article
Yeah but who does that! You kids and your high UIDs don't know how Slashdot works.
IUDs? (Score:2)
I heard that they don't work and that is why there are so many young people on Slashdot.
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I don't know, but it's best to avoid it during that time.
Avoidance never the correct response (Score:2)
Just treat the comet how you want to be treated during a vulnerable time.
What young dudes don't know (Score:2)
is what happens when the comet no longer has a period.
Don't start an argument with the comet. (Score:2)
The period of this comet?
Who knows?
Just give is some "emotional space."
How do we protect Earth from comets? (Score:2)
Re:How do we protect Earth from comets? (Score:4, Funny)
Bruce Willis might be available.
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Bruce Willis might be available.
Yeah, about that [9cache.com].
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Indeed, the Comet People are thinking, "that damned blue planet keeps sneaking up on our citizens! We're just orbiting about, and them BLAM! giant lizards or talking upright apes smack right into us. How rude of the those ugly bastards!"
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If they can just give the earth a little push their comets will be safe.
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There's a clause in the solar system rent contract against that.
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That clause, however, is riddled with loopholes.
Loophole 1: Objects larger than the impactor in their path my not be subject to the "no moving of orbital bodies currently existing under the label 'planets' clause. (Please see definitions of planets in appendix C.)
Loophole 2: Under certain circumstances, multiple objects combining together to form an impact on a orbital body currently existing under the label 'planets' may petition the oversight committee for approval to move said orbital body out of their p
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The BIG issue: How do we protect Earth from a possible collision with a comet?
We might just find out in a few years when 99942 Apophis comes inside geosync orbit range. And the 2d plot makes it appear that it will also come very close to hitting the moon. ('double doink?')
Not that I'm worried it will bounce off a satellite and come down, but it might be a good idea to treat this as one we're allowed to practice on.
Need to stop recording history (Score:2)
Get out the binoculars and telescope (Score:2)