#comet

#comet

Scientists Now Know Why Comets Glow GreenComets tend to glow green, but only from their heads, not their tails. This has baffled scientists for decades. In the 1930s, Gerhard Herzberg speculated that the green may be from a molecule made of two carbon atoms, called a "dicarbon." But how would they test the theory? Dicarbon exists in space, but quickly reacts with oxygen and burns up in earth's atmosphere. A recent experiment from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, confirmed that the green glow of a comet is due to dicarbon, but it wasn't easy. Read how they produced dicarbon and introduced it to a simulated space environment at Popular Science. They learned thatHerzberg was right about dicarbon, but wrong about the mexhnism that made the green glow. -via Fark #comet #dicarbon #green

December Stargazing: Meteors and Comets and Planets, Oh My!This month will be a full one for people who want to see things up in the night sky. On December third, the planet Venus will shine its brightest of the year, but will be visible for a few weeks afterward as well. We have two, count 'em, two meteor showers you'll want to see. And there's a chance we'll be able to spy Comet C/2021 A1, affectionally known as "Leonard," on December 9th. There's a solar eclipse, too, but you'd have to be in Antarctica to see its totality. Besides that, there's the winter solstice and the Christmas star (Sirius) and a few other heavenly events you'll want to mark on your calendar. Dig out the binoculars (or a telescope if you have one), and make plans to get away from city lights. Get a full list with links and instructions for viewing these December celestial events at Lifehacker.#meteorshower #star #comet #stargazing

The Booziest Comet Ever! Comet 46P/Wirtanen has the Highest Alcohol Content of Any CometComet 46P/Wirtanen was nicknamed the "Christmas Comet" when it made its flyby of Earth back in 2018, due to its holiday timing and its bright green glow. Now, a new study shows why it has another reason for its holiday cheer: it's full of booze!"46P/Wirtanen has one of the highest alcohol-to-aldehyde ratios measured in any comet to date," stated cometary scientist Neil Dello Russo of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory who studied the comet at the W.M. Keck Observatory on Manuakea in Hawaii, "This tells us information about how carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen molecules were distributed in the early solar system where Wirtanen formed."Image: Martin Stojanovski/Wikimedia Commons#comet #alcohol #Christmas #astronomy #WMKeckObservatory