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Comets Form Like Deep Fried Ice Cream Scoops

Posted by samzenpus on from the hold-the-whipped-cream dept.

astroengine writes Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif., have added another oddity to the cometary 'weird list': comets are best described as scoops of deep fried ice cream. "The crust is made of crystalline ice, while the interior is colder and more porous," said Murthy Gudipati of JPL, co-author of a recent study appearing in The Journal of Physical Chemistry. "The organics are like a final layer of chocolate on top."

23 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. But how do they taste? by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

    I'm just asking for a friend.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:But how do they taste? by rossdee · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't try tasting a comet - your tongue would stick to it

    2. Re:But how do they taste? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Meatier.

  2. Hmm. They finally caught up to the fictional JPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The JPL astronomers in the Niven / Pournelle book Lucifer's Hammer use hot fudge sundae as the model for the comet in the book, when they are trying to compute the damage it will do if it hits the earth. See page 85 or so, depending on your edition of the book. https://books.google.com/books?id=mWL5SdJobpcC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=lucifer%27s+hammer+hot+fudge+sundae&source=bl&ots=DWaZRJZoGM&sig=_1d6AE4rnz8dzJ4R-aB3RJEnb5A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FbHbVLGoAYT0oATL0oGgCQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lucifer's%20hammer%20hot%20fudge%20sundae&f=false

    Nice to see that real life has confirmed 30 year old fiction :-)

  3. Not really odd by Iamthecheese · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's what happens when you melt and refreeze the surface of a foamed polyphasic material. How is this odd?

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    1. Re:Not really odd by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      Because most of us have probably never heard of foamed polyphasic materials, and consequently don't know the effects of repeated melting and freezing of their surface?

      Just sayin' ... some of us need the ice cream analogy.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Not really odd by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Most of us do not know that technical jargon sentence, no, but must of us understand what happens when you melt and refreeze something like that.

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      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    3. Re:Not really odd by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Hmm he was probably looking forward a +5 Funny.

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    4. Re:Not really odd by Anonanonaon · · Score: 1

      People like you give me hope.

      -That is, people listening to their inner voice and rather than shutting it down, acting on it to try to bring themselves into closer alignment with objective reality and sanity.

      It's tough, and not everybody has the stones for it, which is why those who make the push deserve a ton of respect. The easy roads all lead to nutsville.

  4. Nice collaborative work by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    NASA in TFA relates in details that the work they did mainly comes from the European Space Agency results from the Rosetta mission.

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  5. So, hot fudge sundae... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

    which falls on a Tuesdae this month, as I recall....

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    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    1. Re:So, hot fudge sundae... by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Dammit! You beat me to it!!!!

      Niven and Pournelle got it right!!!!!

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:So, hot fudge sundae... by nytes · · Score: 1

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

      For those who missed some of the better 1970's scifi.

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
    3. Re:So, hot fudge sundae... by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Dammit! Beat me to it.

  6. Um What? by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 1

    Comets Form Like Deep Fried Ice Cream Scoops

    They're rolled in cinamon and sugar and deep fried?

  7. Oh yeah? by Gription · · Score: 1

    I double dog dare you!!

  8. food in the skies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Next: the Moon is made of green cheese.

  9. Re:Hmm. They finally caught up to the fictional JP by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Most "good" science fiction has things that are true, but just not known yet. Jules Verne has a list of predicted inventions too long for me to list here (I'm sure someone would be offended I left off their favorite). Like good science, if it isn't predictive, it isn't useful. Much of Heinlein and Hubbard is provably impossible now, but was used as plot devices. Star Trek is splitting the difference, a little predictive, a little impossible. Niven liked aliens a little too much to be testable, though Ringworld is proven impossible, without materials we can't even conceive of yet.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
  10. Does this work on a rubber ducky? by Drethon · · Score: 1

    I thought Rosetta found that 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is not out gassing evenly. So if things are primary happening in the neck of the rubber ducky, does this reform the shell after melting and rehardening again?

  11. Mmmmmmmm....... by Brad1138 · · Score: 1

    Deep fried ice cream scoops......

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    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
    1. Re:Mmmmmmmm....... by Livius · · Score: 1

      Why would anyone want to deep-fry the scoop?

    2. Re:Mmmmmmmm....... by Brad1138 · · Score: 1

      Touché

      --
      If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  12. I can't even by houghi · · Score: 1

    I mean, come on, this is like, sooooo boring that these comets form, like, you know venti deep fried ice cream latte scoops. I mean, I can't even ....

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.