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The Jews didn't follow a star, that was the 3 wise men, he was referring to the Nazi's making them wear a yellow star.
An enormous ‘mega comet’ is flying into our solar system
SPACE 21 June 2021
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
A large object in the outer solar system may be a “mega comet”
MARK GARLICK/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF
Astronomers have discovered a huge and previously unknown object entering our solar system that will reach the orbit of Saturn in 2031. It is possibly the largest body from the outer reaches of our solar system ever found to make such a close approach to the sun.
Known as 2014 UN271, it is estimated to be between 100 and 370 kilometres across. The object was spotted by the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a project using the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile that was originally designed to study dark energy, but was recently also used to look for objects in the outer solar system.
Pedro Bernardinelli at the University of Pennsylvania led a team that used six years of DES data to find 800 bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune, called trans-Neptunian objects. But UN271 jumped out of the data for its size and the calculations that show how far in towards the sun it will fly.
“This is the coolest thing we’ve found,” says Bernardinelli.
We know of many asteroids and comets that have flown in from the outer solar system, but most tend to be up to a few kilometres wide. The size of UN271 is particularly unusual.
While it isn’t large enough to be a dwarf planet, it could be a minor planet or “possibly a mega comet”, says Samantha Lawler at the University of Regina in Canada.
Its orbit is also interesting. It is currently about 20 times further out than Earth’s distance from the sun – known as one astronomical unit (AU) – but in January 2031 it will reach a distance of just 10.9 AU, close enough for astronomers to make some basic studies of the object. Saturn, by comparison, orbits at an average of 9.5 AU.
At its furthest, UN271 travels out to a distance of 40,000 AU, or about 0.6 light years, on an orbital path that takes 3 million years to complete, making its discovery partly down to very fortunate timing.
Read more: Pluto is covered in huge red patches and we don’t know what they are
It isn’t clear if the object has ever flown into the solar system before, or if we may have caught it on its first passage after it was pushed inwards. “It seems like it’s an old object” and has done so, based on simulations of its trajectory, says Bernardinelli. “But this is not set in stone yet.”
So far, our views of UN271 are very low resolution, but as it makes its way inward we could look for cometary activity such as melting ices and the appearance of a tail. It is also unclear if it will be spherical like other small bodies, such as Pluto or Ceres, or more irregular.
“We haven’t really seen any 100-kilometre [outer solar system] objects close up,” says Lawler. “Maybe it’ll be some totally bizarre shape. I’m really hoping it has rings.”
UN271 could be a particularly good target for a spacecraft to fly by and take images up close. Such a mission, which would need to launch in the next six or seven years to reach it in time, is logistically “doable”, says Mark McCaughrean at the European Space Agency.
While there are expected to be many more such objects awaiting discovery in the outer solar system – particularly during the 10-year survey of the region planned at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile from 2023 – it is unclear how unique UN271 is and how rare an opportunity this might be.
“Maybe this is the only one that’s this big and will come in this close,” says Lawler. “We don’t really know.”
SPACE 21 June 2021
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
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A large object in the outer solar system may be a “mega comet”
MARK GARLICK/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF
Astronomers have discovered a huge and previously unknown object entering our solar system that will reach the orbit of Saturn in 2031. It is possibly the largest body from the outer reaches of our solar system ever found to make such a close approach to the sun.
Known as 2014 UN271, it is estimated to be between 100 and 370 kilometres across. The object was spotted by the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a project using the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile that was originally designed to study dark energy, but was recently also used to look for objects in the outer solar system.
Pedro Bernardinelli at the University of Pennsylvania led a team that used six years of DES data to find 800 bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune, called trans-Neptunian objects. But UN271 jumped out of the data for its size and the calculations that show how far in towards the sun it will fly.
“This is the coolest thing we’ve found,” says Bernardinelli.
We know of many asteroids and comets that have flown in from the outer solar system, but most tend to be up to a few kilometres wide. The size of UN271 is particularly unusual.
While it isn’t large enough to be a dwarf planet, it could be a minor planet or “possibly a mega comet”, says Samantha Lawler at the University of Regina in Canada.
Its orbit is also interesting. It is currently about 20 times further out than Earth’s distance from the sun – known as one astronomical unit (AU) – but in January 2031 it will reach a distance of just 10.9 AU, close enough for astronomers to make some basic studies of the object. Saturn, by comparison, orbits at an average of 9.5 AU.
At its furthest, UN271 travels out to a distance of 40,000 AU, or about 0.6 light years, on an orbital path that takes 3 million years to complete, making its discovery partly down to very fortunate timing.
Read more: Pluto is covered in huge red patches and we don’t know what they are
It isn’t clear if the object has ever flown into the solar system before, or if we may have caught it on its first passage after it was pushed inwards. “It seems like it’s an old object” and has done so, based on simulations of its trajectory, says Bernardinelli. “But this is not set in stone yet.”
So far, our views of UN271 are very low resolution, but as it makes its way inward we could look for cometary activity such as melting ices and the appearance of a tail. It is also unclear if it will be spherical like other small bodies, such as Pluto or Ceres, or more irregular.
“We haven’t really seen any 100-kilometre [outer solar system] objects close up,” says Lawler. “Maybe it’ll be some totally bizarre shape. I’m really hoping it has rings.”
UN271 could be a particularly good target for a spacecraft to fly by and take images up close. Such a mission, which would need to launch in the next six or seven years to reach it in time, is logistically “doable”, says Mark McCaughrean at the European Space Agency.
While there are expected to be many more such objects awaiting discovery in the outer solar system – particularly during the 10-year survey of the region planned at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile from 2023 – it is unclear how unique UN271 is and how rare an opportunity this might be.
“Maybe this is the only one that’s this big and will come in this close,” says Lawler. “We don’t really know.”
My first thought is I wonder how fast it's travellimg because it could do the job of a space exploration rocket. Imagine, we could put all the most modern long range recording and transmitting devices on there that we have and let it orbit the solar system on a route which stretches further than we know and through areas of unknown space.
Appreciate it will have its limitations but may still provide a fck of a lot of information which at the moment is impossible or require multiple space programmes which aren't feesible. It could be a great opportunity to piggy back onto it and use it like a space rocket.
Maybe a human who is willing to undertake a one way trip on a barren rock into ultimate oblivion could also be put on it. I nominate @Sucky
Any likes you get for using my name i expect to get back 3 fold
Apart from the Sucky bit, great idea, I'm sure someone like NASA has already thought of it, well I would hope so.
Yeh I would hope so. A natural object which does the job for us at a fraction of the cost and scientific advancement necessary to achieve otherwise. It would really break boundaries in terms of space exploration. I'm sure there will be massive challenges but they've got time to plan for it.
Can I bore you with this bit of name-dropping again? Some years back I attended a space-lecture by Tom Stafford, a late replacement for Gene Cernan. Few people realise that Stafford was not just an Apollo astronaut - as if that in itself wasn't enough - but he was also one of the leading engineers in the development of stealth and drone technology. He spoke about his work at Area 51, and, after joking about having to get rid of all the aliens, he went on to say that even the stuff he worked on 30 years ago will be classified for decades to come, and we simply have no idea what designs are being tested around us.
Okay, that could be a smokescreen. Then again, when the first stealth craft were unveiled in the 1990's, people didn't realise they'd been working on these, based on Maxwell's equations, since the late 40's and with captured Nazi designs. And who'd have thought they could have drones designed to look and sound like cockroaches even 20 years ago?
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