been the result of an impact against an astoride, sending it our way so to speak, and not because of internal gas expansion. If it hit one astoride, could we not expect a shower of such, and should we get ready to counter a possible extinction event?
2007-11-19 20:34:10 · 5 answers · asked by Tacit Hue 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Thanks for the answers. News of this is difficult to follow. Do you have an outlet for such information. How do you keep up with this sort of event?
2007-11-19 20:46:11 · update #1
#1 It is ASTEROID.
#2 The brightening is called 'out gassing' and is NOT the result of a collision. As a comet gets closer to the Sun the volatile gases that are part of its makeup, are boiled off. Some times a pocket of gas will sublimate and cause a massive increase in the size of the coma, which of course reflects more sunlight and makes the comet look brighter.
2007-11-20 00:35:31 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If there was an impact, it was tiny because there is no visible change of orbital parameters. If the impact had changed the orbital parameters, it would have been so severe that both objects would essentially have been dispersed into small pieces and gas. The chances of an impact with Earth would have been just the same as with any other not-so-near-Earth object... basically zero.
Dang! Still no mass extinction event and someone will still have to get up in the morning and go to school or work!
2007-11-20 04:40:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's likely that comet Holmes has several lesser bodies in orbit around it, and that every once in a while one of the collides with Holmes and causes one of these outbursts. Such an impact would not change its orbit appreciably. Even if its orbit were changed appreciably, the odds of hitting the Earth are very small.
2007-11-20 08:57:18 · answer #3 · answered by cosmo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One possibility is an impact with the comet nucleus, certainly. However, comet Holmes's nucleus is only 3.4km across, and appears to be still very much intact. That means it can't have been struck by something as large as an asteroid. A similar brightening was seen with the Deep Impact probe, and the impactor for that was only a couple of metres across. I do not think we have anything to worry about.
2007-11-20 04:39:09 · answer #4 · answered by Jason T 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think you're asking about Comet Holmes, but that brightened dramatically rather than exploded. It's done this before, so it's much more likely to be the comet's makeup that causes it, rather than a collision.
2007-11-20 08:30:08 · answer #5 · answered by Iridflare 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋