New solar system member is tail-less comet called 2006 SQ372

by William Atkins

Saturday, 23 August 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! The comet called 2006 SQ372 was discovered in 2007 to be about two billion miles (three billion kilometers) from Earth, a bit closer than the orbit of Neptune, on a 22,000-to-32,000 year trip around the Sun. Where it came from is still being hypothesized by its discoverers and other astronomers. The 30-to-60-mile (50-to-100-kilometer) diameter comet was discovered in 2006 by Andrew Becker, Nathan Kaib and fellow coworkers while using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a astronomical study of about one-half of the Northern Hemisphere sky using a 2.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. One of their discoveries states that the comet is “tail-less” because it does not approach the Sun close enough to make its ices evaporate and form a tail. This finding, and other 2006 SQ372 findings, were reported on August 18, 2008 at a meeting for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which was held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. A paper describing their discovery and the properties of 2006 SQ372 will soon be submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. In addition, the group have found that the comet has a very eccentric orbit. The small comet has been discovered to have its closest position from the Sun as nearly equal to the orbit of the planet Neptune—about 30 astronomical units (AU), or about 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers). Its furthest distance from the Sun is estimated to be over 1,600 AU (and as much as 2,000 AU)—or over 150 billion miles (240 billion kilometers) from the Sun (that is, 1,600 times the distance of the Earth and the Sun). In addition, the width of its orbit is one-fourth the distance of its length—making it a very elliptical orbit. Its orbital diagram and parameters are found on the NASA website for 2006 SQ372. Such a large oblong orbit makes for a very long year for the tiny comet: between 22,000 and 32,000 Earth years. Page two continues. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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