Saturn •

Comet Linear isn’t the only one emitting the warm color. Lovejoy (portrayed above) shares the tint.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Comet Linear will emerge in the night sky next week, and it will be a hundred times brighter than the astronomers first expected. The green comet will be visible in the northern hemisphere.

Those living in the southern hemisphere were privileged enough to witness the bright celestial occurrence this week after the object passed our planet from a safe 3.3 million miles distance.

At the present moment, the Comet Linear is rapidly moving into view in the northern hemisphere. The only downside to all of this is the fact that sky gazers will need at least a pair of binoculars to witness our visitor since the sky will be illuminated by the moon.

Moreover, individuals who are eager to witness the event must find a dark place, unpolluted by any sources of light. The best time to be out and comet gazing is around an hour and a half before sunrise.

Each morning the green comet will be observed higher in the sky than in the previous one. It will pass right by where Mars and Saturn are visible. People will also be able to see Antares near the other two, forming a sort of small triangle.

The Comet Linear will climb left of this triangle. On Tuesday, it will be approximately on Saturn’s line, while on Thursday it will be visible along the line that connects Saturn and Antares.

The senior editor of the Sky & Telescope magazine, Kelly Beatty, is advising any enthusiasts to expect to see only a bright spot. According to him, Comet Linear will not have an obvious long tail as people would presume.

The lack of a tail is caused by the way in which light is concentrated on the surface of the comet. Instead of being focused on just one point, it is spread out in a sort of round glow. While it’s size is larger than the moon, the light emitted is considerably dimmer.

The diatomic carbon molecules from its componence react with the sunlight and create a greenish, fluorescent color. Unfortunately, the green shade will only be visible through a telescope.

The astronomers are not sure how long the comet will remain on orbit given its unexpected surge. On Monday, it passed the closest point near the Earth, and it is currently heading away from the sun and our planet. The green comet will be visible in the northern hemisphere until the end of the week.

On Tuesday, the PanSTARRS comet passed near the Earth at a distance of only 2.2 million miles.

Image source: Wikimedia

Saturn’s rings are made out of an assortment of satellites, debris, gases and dust.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Some of the planets and natural satellites in our solar system are billions of years old; they were moving around the Sun before the first bacteria even appeared on Earth. But it seems that there are a few celestial bodies that are quite young comparing to the age of our galaxy, even comparing to the appearance of life on our planet. According to SETI researchers, dinosaurs predated Saturn’s moons, making them the youngest bodies in the vicinity.

The SETI Institute researchers studied the moons and gases that surround Saturn. And they discovered that some of the portions of the rings were less than 100 million years old. This means that the dinosaurs predated Saturn’s moons.

The gas giant’s belt is made out of an assortment of gases, satellites, icy objects and debris. Most of them are affected by tidal interactions between the planet’s inner liquid and the inner satellites. The rings have been tilted and pushed farther out over the billions of years that have passed since our solar system was formed.

But the orbital tilts and shifts can also be caused by the gravitational interactions of the moons. These bodies enter into occasional orbital resonances that tilts and pulls them from their original orbits.

In order to better understand the interactions that take place between the different objects, the researchers from SETI build a computer model that mimicked the rings. Upon doing so, they discovered that Dione, Tethys and Rhea presented fewer alterations than they initially presumed.

This means that the three satellites were subjected to fewer gravitational interactions and tidal forces. And since the laws of physics do not discriminate, the only possible explanation for the pristine state of the three moons is that they are rather new additions to the rings system of the gas giant.

Using data gathered from the geothermal activity of Enceladus, the researchers managed to estimate the strength of the tidal forces of Saturn. And from the considerable and consistent geothermal activity of Enceladus, it seems that the forces are quite high.

Judging by the potency of the tidal forces and the moderate degree of alteration present on the surface of the three moons, the researchers concluded that Dione, Tethys and Rhea are only approximately one hundred million years old.

It seems that dinosaurs predated Saturn’s moons. But the team that worked on the study claims that there is a significant possibility that the gas giant had additional moons in its inner rings, but that they were destroyed by orbital resonance.

The full article can be found in in this month’s edition of the Astrophysical Journal.

Image source: Pixabay

Green Comet Will Be Visible in the Northern Hemisphere

Dinosaurs Predated Saturn’s Moons

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