Discovery of Main-Belt Comet P/2006 VW139 by Pan-STARRS1 Main belt asteroid (300163) 2006 VW139 (later designated P/2006 VW139 ) was discovered to exhibit comet-like activity by the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope using automated point-spread-function analyses performed by PS1’s Moving Object Processing System. Deep follow-up observations show both a short (∼10" ) antisolar dust tail and a longer (∼60" ) dust trail aligned with the object’s orbit plane, similar to the morphology observed for another main-belt comet, P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), and other well-established comets, implying the action of a long-lived, sublimation-driven emission event.Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters
Ticker Tape Model of the Solar System Objectives: Name all the planets in our Solar System.Describe the distances in our Solar System including the distances between planets, and between the Asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt, and the Sun.Describe three or more differences between the inner and outer Solar System. How many planets are in our Solar System and what are their names? How far apart are they? What are the differences between them? This activity will help answer some of these questions, while providing the opportunity for you to ask your own.
Comet Vales - A Comet Holmes look-alike? For those of you who have been following our news of recent comet observations and analysis by Richard Miles (BAA), he has provided us with an update on his observations of comet Vales.
Comet Vales: A spiraling comet Richard Miles from British Astronomical Association has been coordinating UK schools to make observations of a comet that is behaving strangely. Comet P/2010 H2 (VALES) underwent a major outburst around 2010 April 15 brightening by more than 1000 times (possibly even more than this) in a matter of a few hours. Before this date, the object was not known. After this date it had taken on the appearance of a 12th magnitude star. The comet sooon began to exhibit an expanding coma.
Amateur sees comet breaking up from desktop Telescope class: 2-meterDiscipline: EducationSite: HaleakalaTelescope: Faulkes Telescope NorthReported on BBC news online.Amateur astronomer, Nick Howes, spots comet Siding Spring breaking up from the observatory in his back garden. He contacted the Faulkes Telescope Project and helped to co-ordinate with UK schools to make higher quality follow-up observations with Faulkes Telescope North .Tags: comets
Recent Outburst of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann This comet appears to have undergone another massive outburst, this time on 2010 February 2 increasing in brightness by a factor of 30-40. The object is one of the largest active comets known. It follows a near-circular path about 6.2 AU from the Sun, i.e. well beyond the orbit of Jupiter. This is its fourth outburst of a similar magnitude in the past 8 years. The nucleus of the comet is probably about 50 km in size and its behaviour may be a consequence of its very slow rotation along with the fact that it appears to be rich in carbon monoxide, a very volatile gas.
Impact Craters on the Moon Finding your way around the Moon The first step in this activity is to change the view in Google Earth, to the Moon.
Impact Craters on Mars Finding your way around Mars The first step in this activity is to change the view in Google Earth, to Mars.
Measuring impact craters on Earth In this activity you will be measuring craters of different sizes on Earth which are the result of an impact from space. The impacts causing these craters would result in a variety of climatic changes - small impacts would generally affect only the local area, whereas larger impacts could have massive changes in the global weather systems. To begin, download Google Earth, then follow the instructions below. Finding and measuring impact craters
Craters in the classroom Objectives: After carrying out this activity, students will be able to recognise and describe how impact craters are formed on Earth. Introduction
