研究人员认为氮冰是最可能构成这一神秘星际物体的物质。
Comets
Posted inResearch Spotlights
‘Oumuamua May Be an Icy Fragment of a Pluto-Like Exoplanet
Researchers favor nitrogen ice as the most likely material for the mysterious interstellar object’s composition.
Posted inNews
Armageddon at 10,000 BCE
Fragments of a comet likely hit Earth 12,800 years ago, and a little Paleolithic village in Syria might have suffered the impact.
Posted inNews
Interstellar Visitors Could Export Terrestrial Life to Other Stars
A handful of interstellar objects and long-period comets could have scooped up microorganisms from Earth and carried them to worlds around other stars.
Posted inNews
Interstellar Interloper Borisov Looks Like a Regular Comet, for Now
A first look at the chemical composition of the interstellar comet Borisov reveals ingredients that look a lot like those found in solar system comets. That’s not likely to last very long.
Posted inNews
Meteorite’s Hidden Treasure: A Comet
A fragment of a comet found hidden inside a meteorite is offering new insights into the dynamics of our young solar system.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Long Can Celestial Bodies Retain Ice?
A new model suggests that many objects in the outer asteroid belt may still harbor deposits that formed around the time of their accretion.
Posted inNews
More Discoveries in the Cards from Defunct Comet Mission
A year after the end of the Rosetta mission, the real scientific fun begins.
Posted inNews
Cracking Comet: A Window to the Past
An unusual feature on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko offers insights into cometary origins.
Posted inNews
Rosetta Spacecraft Death-Dives into Comet Companion—On Purpose
On the way to its demise, the probe intimately viewed a dust-spewing pit and measured close up the gravity field, temperature, and other features of the comet.