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Evidence For 200-Year-Old Comet Impact On Neptune

astroengine writes "Astronomers using ESA's Herschel space observatory have spotted evidence of a cometary impact in Neptune's upper atmosphere (publication, PDF). Whereas impact craters on rocky planetary bodies can remain for billions of years, an impact in the dynamic atmospheres of gas giants aren't obvious, especially if long periods of time have elapsed. This ultimate 'cold case' tracked the unusual distribution of carbon monoxide in Neptune's stratosphere, a sure sign it was deposited there by an external source. Once they realized they were looking at a comet impact, researchers were able to deduce when the impact occurred: 200 years ago."

14 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Uranus by Flyerman · · Score: -1, Troll

    This would be much more interesting if it was about Uranus.

    1. Re:Uranus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      This would be much more interesting if it was about Uranus.

      Uranus is full of gay niggers.

  2. Barack Hussein Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I agree with Fox "News".

    This is just another way that Barack Obama is putting black people ahead of white people.

    Obama is a racist. Fox "News" is doing us all a big service.

    1. Re:Barack Hussein Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      shut up, nigger

    2. Re:Barack Hussein Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      What's all the shit I hear about the right making up shit to instigate fights? The left has perfected this. To the point I think most of the "racists" in the tea party are plants from the Democratic party.

    3. Re:Barack Hussein Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Yeah, they embrace them hard right before they kick them out. I'm an educated black man and I have NEVER seen nor heard any racism at any tea party event but have heard plenty from liberals and democrats. I never had so many white, asian, hispanic, indian, and arab friends before I joined the tea party demonstrations.

      John Lewis was proven to be a liar when video of his entire walk was checked and not a single incidence of racism was found.

      If you're looking for racism you're looking in the wrong place.

  3. Smod up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
  4. so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    ok?
    what new does this tell us?
    nothing
    move along.

  5. Re:Impact probability by BitZtream · · Score: 1, Troll

    You and I have different definitions of impact, but I suppose you're correct about SL9. I tend to think exploding in the atmosphere isn't an impact, but on a gaseous planet you aren't going to get much other than an airburst.

    What I want to know is how we know what a comet that impacted a gas giant 200 years ago would look like in the atmosphere 200 years after the fact.

    Maybe its just me, but it seems like an aweful lot of 'science' recently has been based on pure speculation. I mean, I know there are some great deductive minds out there, but until you can show me pictures of the comet that hit 200 years ago and the data showing how you tracked it to now so you know what it would look like after 200 years of atmospheric storms ...

    You know what, I'm not going to even finish that thought, I call bullshit.

    We can't model weather on Earth, and we have god knows how many sensors of every freaking type we've ever invented watching the planet and we can't predict what will happen tomorrow nor can we take a screenshot of the atmosphere and tell what the weather was like last year beyond what any 10 year old could guess on his/her own.

    But we can detect what happened in a gas giant ... hundreds of years ago ... because we saw some light on a spectrometer?

    And someone else believes this bullshit?

    --
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  6. Re:Tea Party and Fox "News" Racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    And why can't that dipshit produce a birth certificate? Maybe because he's not and american stupid.

  7. Re:Tea Party and Fox "News" Racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    So anyone who questions the current administration or exercises their 2nd amendment rights is now a racist?

    Yeah, you most certainly sound like a raving ass.

  8. Re:Tea Party and Fox "News" Racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    they can put someone in a witness relocation program but some who controls the us gov can't forge a simple document?

  9. Re:Tea Party and Fox "News" Racists by blue+trane · · Score: 1, Troll

    those who questioned bush were "against us" after 911. What's good for the goose...

  10. Re:Tea Party and Fox "News" Racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    He means the real one, you dumbfuck porch-monkey.