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Comet Leonard

28 December 2021
Astronomy

Comet Leonard will round the Sun on January 3rd [next week]. It is already proving to be an interesting passage through the solar system – see https://spaceweather.com for updates. In fact, as of the 27th December, the tail has now broken up as a result of buffeting by the solar wind. Multiple outbursts from the comet itself have also been observed. The break up of the tail is ascribed to a disconnection event, one of mainstream's theories on how the Sun and solar wind work. See also https://phys.org/news/2021-12-views-comet-leonard-sun-watching-spacecraf… … and some excellent images at https://spaceweather.com earlier in the weeks – such as 22nd December. The comet tail at that time was full of twists and swirls.

At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10336775/ … earth evolved from collisions between smaller 'planetary embryos' in the inner solar system, a new study alleges. This runs counter to present mainstream thinking where the earth accreted from material in the outer solar system. 

At https://sciencex.com/news/2021-12-material-asteroid-ryugu-secrets-early…. … is another report on the samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu by the Japanese.

At https://phys.org/news/2021-12-eso-telescopes-uncover-largest-group.html … space telescopes have recently discovered 70 rogue planets in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

and at https://phys.org/news/2021-12-comets-green-tails-years.html … comet heads can be green but never their tails. A PNAS study this month gives the results of a chemical experiment in Australia that has confirmed why comet tails are never green in colour. The idea goes back to the 1930s but has never been proven by experiment – until now. It is due to dicarbon, or c2. This is a chemical created from the reaction between sunlight and organic matter in the head of the comet. Dicarbon comes from the break up of larger organic molecules frozen in the nucleus of the comet. See for example https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2113315118

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