The discovery of comet ATLAS by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) conducted by the University of Hawaii was a fascinating occurrence. Researchers focused their telescopes on this comet, believing it to be the brightest comet ever to whiz past the Earth. The object, on the other hand, crumbled into smaller bits in a matter of months, perplexing researchers all around the world.
The comet was a part of an entity passed 5000 years ago
The comet was likely part of an entity that passed within 23 million miles of the Sun 5000 years ago, according to astronomers. Hubble Space Telescope observed that ATLAS was part of a family of comets that managed to get close to the Sun, closer than its innermost planet Mercury and would have been a sight to civilisations across Eurasia and North Africa at the end of the Stone Age.
Astronomers analysed the disintegration event of ATLAS in a report published in The Astronomical Journal and discovered that while one component of ATLAS was destroyed in a matter of days, another remained for weeks. Because ATLAS follows the same orbital railroad track as a comet spotted in 1844, astronomers assume it is a broken-off piece of that ancient visitor from 5,000 years ago. According to researchers, the two comets are siblings from a parent comet that broke apart centuries ago.
According to Quanzhi Ye of the University of Maryland, who was a member of the investigation and noticed that ATLAS disintegrated at a distance of over 100 million miles from the Sun, unlike its presumed parent comet. This was a long way from where its parent had passed the Sun. He doubted that how did it survive the last journey around the Sun 5,000 years ago if it split apart thus far from the Sun? He also stated that this is the most important question and it's quite odd because it's something people wouldn't expect.
"ATLAS' surviving siblings may not return until 50th century"
Researchers suspect that streamers of ejected material may have spun up the comet so quickly that centrifugal forces tore it apart, based on Hubble data. Another hypothesis is that it included so-called super-volatile ices, which just blew the chunk apart like an aerial fireworks display. According to astronomers, the comet ATLAS' surviving siblings, which may have evolved from the parent object, will not return until the 50th century.
Image- @NASAHubble/Twitter
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5yZXB1YmxpY3dvcmxkLmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LW5ld3Mvc2NpZW5jZS9hdGxhcy1tYXktaGF2ZS1iZWVuLXBhcnQtb2YtNTAwMC15ZWFyLW9sZC1jb21ldC10aGF0LXdoaXp6ZWQtYnktZWFydGguaHRtbNIBhAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5yZXB1YmxpY3dvcmxkLmNvbS9hbXAvdGVjaG5vbG9neS1uZXdzL3NjaWVuY2UvYXRsYXMtbWF5LWhhdmUtYmVlbi1wYXJ0LW9mLTUwMDAteWVhci1vbGQtY29tZXQtdGhhdC13aGl6emVkLWJ5LWVhcnRoLmh0bWw?oc=5
2021-08-21 11:54:00Z
CAIiEHcpYLPrJfPYIO0PzX-8hFsqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowwZKRCzDO1KUDMLaR1gY
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar