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Comet Hale-Bopp 'Frozen To Death'
astroengine writes "In 1997, comet Hale-Bopp became the most spectacular space event of the past few decades. But where's the huge lump of ice now? Astronomers have decided to check in on the interplanetary interloper to see how its journey is going after sweeping through the inner solar system 15 years ago. Now beyond the orbit of Neptune, Hale-Bopp has undergone a dramatic change. As it travels further from the sun, inevitably its surface receives less heat, and now the comet appears to have reached a watershed: it has ceased all cometary activity, in stark contrast to only 3 years ago. The next time it will erupt to life will be in around 2,500 years when it completes its next solar flyby."
Wow that's a long time to wait for the mothership to return... I might as well just end it all now. Drinking the flavor-aid and all...
Are you really telling me that the glimpse I got at 10yrs old is it? I was really looking forward to round 2 in 50-60 years. :(
That's no moon.
"Frozen to death" doesn't usually foretell a return to life at some later date - maybe "suspended animation" would be a more apt term.
#DeleteChrome
Pffft. Outgassing starts at a measly 53kelvin? Yeah we could total nuke that fu.... i mean this can totally be used to help us guide objects like this into rougue outer planet colo.... i mean, yay for science!
Comet Chisan-Bop has some ice subtracted from it each time around.
Some say comet Be-Bop may someday be used as a space ship.
A comet doing exactly what everybody knows it would do is not exactly news.
Future Slashdot headlines?
Moon still orbiting.
Sun still hot.
Rings still around Saturn.
Timothy posting stupid stories.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
1 April 1997: Hale-Bopp passes perihelion.
2(?) April 1997: Discoverer Bopp discovers his brother and sister-in-law have died in a road accident after photographing the comet.
15 April 1997: MMMBop released by girl band Hansen.
16 April-December 1997. My eyes remain especially open (OK, it disappeared from the Northern Hemisphere PoV much sooner); my ears especially closed.
This is how my mind works.
Amateur astronomers are cool. Thanks for discovering the comet, Thomas Bopp. Thopp.
Must'a forgot his sweat pants and Nikes.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
My condolences for those basement dwellers that missed their chance for a magic comet ride.
Can't wait to see it again next time around!
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
that's how comets work. Good job staying awake in your 5th grade science class.
You guys are missing the big picture. When a comet comes by, we need to send up a spacecraft to "hitch a ride" on it. Put it in orbit around the comet and we can then travel to the far reaches of the solar system without any need for propulsion. We can just observe anything of interest (but primarily the comet) and send back info for as long as we want. Maybe sometimes we can escape the comet and observe Pluto or something else of interest. But we got a free ride.
No one who saw both Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake (1996) from dark sites would make this claim. Hyakutake sported a tail so long that you had to move your head around to take it all in. Oh, and it was moving so fast you could almost watch its motion against the background stars. Just because it wasn't associated with a mass suicide, it gets short shrift. (Shows how little those loonies knew: Because it passed so close to Earth, Hyakutake was far more plausible as a candidate for alien rendezvous :)
I didnt read the article, but the comet is just doing what it is supposed to do... Get all hot and active near the sun.. freeze to a frozen block in the outer solar system and beyond.
Why is this on slashdot?
Either they burn up "quickly" or they have orbits that allow them to refreeze which slows down their inevitable evaporation down to a few rocky bits and pieces.