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(meteorobs) Fwd: Comet Borrelly and NASA DS1 flyby


From a regional astronomy email forum here in New England USA.
Forwarded without permission of the author.

Clear skies,
Lew Gramer

------- Forwarded Message

   Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 23:14:48 -0000
   From: "RayK" <starsplitter_ne@yahoo.com>
Subject: Comet Borrelly and NASA DS1flyby

September 'Astronomy' has a great article about the Borelly comet
scheduled to cross our ecliptic on September 22. The nucleus is
estimated to be about 5 miles across and it is believed the comet
comes from beyond the Kuiper Belt where things form at roughly -400
degress.

NASA Satellite DS1 was originally scheduled to pass within 6 miles of
asteroid 1992KD back in July of 1999 and then on to Comet Wilson-
Harrington. DS1 couldn't find the asteroid, and the navigation system
failed before reaching the comet! The NASA team brilliantly derived a
way to navigate using the onboard (very limited FOV) science camera
and has now set off to pass within 1200 miles of Comet Borrelly.

This is a real feat of engineering and science considering DS1 is not
designed for comet research. In order to understand comets, it is
necessary to penetrate the surrounding cloud and view the nucleus.
This has been difficult (and somewhat unsuccessful so far) to
accomplish so far, but NASA expects DS1 to provide some good
photographs of the "dirty snowball."

Scientists believe that most or all water on our planet came from
comets, and that all the elements of life reside there as well.

Surprises spring from comets like X-rays produced when photons pass
through the coma of the comet and fissures and geysers spewing gasses
and dust when the comet comes within the solar system and is heated
by the solar wind and radiation. This is a fascinating article.

Borrelly is a Mag 9 object which will rise for us at about 1:30am in
Gemini about 7 degrees southeast of Pollux.

Clear Skies! RayK


------- End of Forwarded Message


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