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Rosetta's Comet Is Actually 2 Comets Stuck Together

Posted by samzenpus on from the stuck-on-you dept.

astroengine writes: Scientists have solved the mystery of why the comet being studied by Europe's Rosetta spacecraft is shaped like a rubber duck — it started off as TWO separate comets, a new study shows. Ever since Rosetta sent back pictures of its twin-lobed target more than a year ago, scientists have debated whether the comet, known as 67P/Churyumov-Garasimenko, could be the result of two comets that merged together during the solar system's early years. The other option is that the so-called "neck region" between 67P's two lobes experienced some particularly active and still unexplained outgassing over the eons, eroding its more spherical shape into a body that resembles a rubber duck. "Our study rules out the possibility that the comet shape is the outcome of erosion," planetary scientist Matteo Massironi, with the University of Padova in Italy, wrote in an email to Discovery News. Rather, the neck region is where two independent bodies collided, analysis of high-resolution images taken by the orbiting Rosetta spacecraft shows.

45 comments

  1. 2...2...2 comets in one! by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    should be named Comet Certs.

  2. Yo dawg! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We put a comet in your comet so you can explore while you explore!

  3. Think about this folks... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1, Funny

    This is where George Lucas buried Howard the Duck after the movie bombed.

    1. Re:Think about this folks... by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      I liked that movie :(

      Did you see him in Guardians of the Galaxy?

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    2. Re:Think about this folks... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I liked the movie as a kid. Not so much as an adult. Yes, I saw the end credit scene in Guardians. I look forward to seeing the remake, if they ever do a remake.

    3. Re:Think about this folks... by Talderas · · Score: 1

      I couldn't take the movie seriously after the presence of duck boobs within the opening scene.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  4. doh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isnt' that why it was named Churyumov-Garasimenko?

    1. Re:doh! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Isnt' that why it was named Churyumov-Garasimenko?

      No. In fact, it was named Churyumov-Garasimenko so that Russian scientists could get a chuckle out of watching US scientists trying to pronounce it.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  5. This was predicted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Electric solar system theory predicted this shape to the comet.

  6. Not surprising and kind of arbitrary by DumbSwede · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Almost everything in the solar system built up by accretion. Small bodies aggregate into larger ones by collision. If the bodies have enough mass they coalesce into spherical forms under gravitational attraction.

    This comet probably started out has hundreds of bodies (millions, billions, trillions, depending on where you decide the cut off is between body, dust, molecule) -- of which we are focusing on just one of the last, largest collisions.

    --
    Letter To Iran
    1. Re:Not surprising and kind of arbitrary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow... it's like a 3D Printer in space... I wonder who's going to fix the nozzle jam.

    2. Re:Not surprising and kind of arbitrary by Virtucon · · Score: 1

      keep your space orgy porn to yourself.

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    3. Re:Not surprising and kind of arbitrary by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      keep your space orgy porn to yourself.

      A little privacy folks - It's comet mating season, ya insensitive clods!

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    4. Re:Not surprising and kind of arbitrary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When a daddy comet and a mommy comet love each other very much, they collide into each other and give birth to a baby comet that is much bigger than the two of them???? And it looks like a duck, which begs the question who's child it really is.

      Wow... that went down hill really fast.

    5. Re:Not surprising and kind of arbitrary by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      When a daddy comet and a mommy comet love each other very much, they collide into each other and give birth to a baby comet that is much bigger than the two of them???? And it looks like a duck, which begs the question who's child it really is.

      Wow... that went down hill really fast.

      Comets have no morals you know.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  7. Thank You Captain Obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Over a year in orbit before you realized it? You propeller heads make me laugh.

    1. Re:Thank You Captain Obvious by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      it needs a good squeeze and a more probable origin theory likely will become apparent. If it looks like a rubber duckie, squeaks like a rubber duckie....

  8. Heh by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    Rosetta has a nice pair of comets, if you catch my drift.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. think.. think they know by Virtucon · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They think they know. They've done some homework, some research and have come up with a couple of hypothesis. They think they've ruled out one but they don't actually know. FTFY

    I for one hold out hope for the large drinking rocks theory where the shape was determined by an over-wash of Jack Daniels.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    1. Re:think.. think they know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "They think they know" is no different from any scientific hypothesis, but if you read the paper, it's a pretty convincing case. The two lobes of the comet are each layered a bit like an onion and the layers between the two sides don't line up. They are largely independent. It's hard to come up with an alternative model that makes any sense with that evidence except independent formation and then fusing together. If it was one body that had a groove eroded in the middle between the two lobes then the layers would project more continuously across the gap.

      [lol - captcha is "tavern". I think slashdot is agreeing with your hypothesis]

  10. Orbits the sun, clears its own orbit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So it's a planet?

  11. two great tastes that go together! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You got comet in my asteroid!
    You got asteroid in my comet!

    lame joke and dated myself. wow.

    1. Re: two great tastes that go together! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're soooooooo hipster!

  12. So... by ark1 · · Score: 1

    Is this how baby comets are made?

    1. Re:So... by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      "You see honey, when two comets love each other very, very much, they give each other a special kind of hug...."

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  13. Electric universe by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1

    There's a less-well-known set of theories under the name Electric Universe that posit electric forces having a large effect on accretion.

    It supposes that individual bodies in space can pick an electric charge through various means, and are thus attracted to bodies of the opposite charge. This explains why many bodies seem to be "double lumps" caused by the joining of two prior bodies (and not three or more).

    Static is a problem for space travel, so I've heard. With no atmosphere to bleed off the charge, any friction tends to leave behind a static charge, making your helmet visor a magnet for dust, for instance.

    I wonder if the solar wind has areas of net positive and net negative charge, so that bodies orbiting in various ways could pick up such an electric charge and thus be attracted to other bodies.

    Any astronomers here care to comment?

    1. Re:Electric universe by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      The solar wind is composed mainly of positively charged molucules, however also electrons. Protons and Alpha particles (helium cores).

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    2. Re:Electric universe by Physics+Dude · · Score: 1

      A significant fraction of comets (where we can observer the comet nucleus) seem to share this common structure... (ie. lobed, dumbbell) and the probability of a gravity-only collision producing the form seems infinitessimally small (due to the extremely weak forces involved). IMHO there is definitely some other process at work, and electrical effects could be a likely candidate.

    3. Re:Electric universe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the poblem with impact theory is that in order to get the temperatures necessary for bodies to fuse requires a high enegy impact. That wold obliterate the comets back to many smaller comets and dust, all of which expand outwards from the place of impact. So we can't then re-apply accretion theory since the rock and dust are expanding away from each other. The only plausible impact theory would be the comets are rock at molten temperatures, and collide slowly. But this idea just kicks the can down the road, as it explains nothing except more big-bang theory.

      Indeed, electrical forces in the universe is a hard pill to swallow. There are certain acknowledgements such as ion winds, and Birkland currents, but mainstream astonomers and astrophycisists are not keen to throw out the baby with the bath water, or theories upon theories of cosmological ideas, which were defined by science in a world before Edison and Tesla gave us electricity and lightbulbs. So it's hard to add that addendum when current theories provide so many answers which appear to most to be reasonable assumptions that lead in the right direction. Hence, why EU is often scoffed at without research, simply because scientists believe that there must be papers out there explaining why the electric universe can't possibly be true. After all, if it were right, then we're back to the drawing board with pretty much everything, incluing quantum physics. That sounds like career suicide to me.

    4. Re: Electric universe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no reason electrical charge can explain why it would only be two lumps and not more. If it a single lump comet can accumulate enough charge to pull in another comer, then a double lump comet can also do so. The only thing that makes it difficult for piling up more pieces is that a collisonal may knock one away, and that isn't specific to gravity or electric forces. In the mean time the conducting plasma environment around a comet doea n't show currents or electric fields significant enough to overcome much gravity, and there are multiple ways to measure this now (directly with probes and remotely with Stark effect spectroscopy, etc.).

    5. Re:Electric universe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The gravitational force is not infinitesimal, but quite finite and significant (it is intro physics easy to calculate the actual force...). And the issue with such collisions tends to not be there being insufficient force, but there being too much. All you need is for them to touch, and enough friction to not fly away. Over long time periods, shapes will deform and dust will settle to smooth out the combined body.

  14. "Stuck together" or.... by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 3, Funny

    How can I explain this to my kid?

    "You see honey, when two comets love each other very, very much, they give each other a special kind of hug...."

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:"Stuck together" or.... by antdude · · Score: 1

      What about the split part later on? ;)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    2. Re:"Stuck together" or.... by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      What about the split part later on? ;)

      "You see, honey...daddy caught mommy hugging another comet, and so mommy and daddy are each going to live apart from now on..."

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  15. Dark Matter Missing Planets & New Comets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    His name was Dr. Thomas C Van Flandern, and yet again one of his most basic theories on the formation and transitions of the solar system has proven to be correct.

    If you are interested in astronomy, or astrophysics and you do not know this man's name yet , acquire his book ( the name of the book is the title of this post ) .That is , if you do not want to be one of the constantly "amazed" , "astounded", and or "mystified" 'persons of science', that seem to be the majority of the ones that get face time in the press.

  16. Ludicrous by 12WTF$ · · Score: 1

    Space Balls

    --
    Cryonics - Keep cool and carry on.
  17. Coren22 the hypocrite noob "eats his words" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "So, have you figured out why privilege escalation is a bad thing yet?" - by Coren22 on Tuesday September 22, 2015 @05:15PM (#50577809)

    Tell us another one, hypocrite - You admitted using admin priv yourself & how else could I programmatically update hosts minus it inside Windows, hmmm?

    ANSWER:

    I have to do it that way, to protect AND speed up users plus make their connections online more reliable!

    (The latter of which also functions to make users faster than adblocking alone, by resolving host-domain names to IP address from hosts cached in RAM locally - far faster than calling out to remote DNS & less complex + less overheads ridden vs. locally installed DNS (less power, & FAR LESS if done on a separate machine)).

    ---

    Aha! What's this Coren22 admits?

    "Of course it requires elevation to write to the hosts file" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @05:35PM (#50585879)

    See subject & BOTH quotes from you contradicting yourself!

    (& a REAL security pro, Aryeh Goretsky of NOD32/ESET agrees hosts = good security -> http://it.slashdot.org/comment... ).

    APK

    P.S.=> LMAO - "EAT YOUR WORDS" you hypocritical STUPID little technically incompetent troll wannabe security guru, lol - you're constantly trolling me, your post history shows it - NOW, you're getting a DOSE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE (How's it taste? Better than how "eating your words" does I bet!)

    ... apk