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Hot Topic
Solar System
Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids
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Sniffing a Comet
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
08/21/04 |
| The European Rosetta mission will sample a comet as it tries to harpoon and hook onto its surface. A specially designed oven will cook the comet in analogy to sniffing for recognizable elements. |
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Perseids to Storm August 11?
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
08/08/04 |
| The annual Perseid meteor shower has started, but it's going to peak on night of August 11, with observers in dark locations seeing upwards of 60 meteors an hour. |
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Catching a Falling Star
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
08/04/04 |
| What are meteors made of? The question is possible to answer from the many samples collected on the ground. |
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Comet Cruiser Glimpses Earth
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
08/03/04 |
| The comet chasing probe called Rosetta glanced back towards Earth using its navigation cameras at the end of July. From a distance of over 42 million miles, the Earth and Moon look faintly like two headlights on a deserted road. |
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Moon Written in Stone
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
07/31/04 |
| In stark relief against the arid Oman desert, meteor hunters have found a rock launched from the moon before life even had time to take hold on Earth. More remarkable was the scientists' ability to unravel its complex timeline to give a complete history written in stone. |
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Out Like A Good Knight
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
07/18/04 |
| The European Space Agency has proposed an impact mitigation mission, called Don Quixote, which launches a scout and destroyer to alter the course of any asteroid headed towards Earth. |
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Death Down Asteroid Alley
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
07/02/04 |
| The nearest sun-like star, Tau Ceti, has been a candidate that might harbor life. At 12 light-years, the star has the right location and luminosity, but according to recent observation, Tau Ceti hosts ten times the flux of meteors and comets. |
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Rockhard Stardust
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
06/17/04 |
| Scientists thought most comets were "fluffy" snowballs -- piles of icy rubble that were loosely bound together. But Wild-2 has a solid, cohesive surface carved into lofty pinnacles, deep canyons and broad mesas. |
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The Inside-Out Earth?
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
06/06/04 |
| Imagine a meteor strike so massive that the Earth's crust might upheave rocks from the depths. According to mineral analysis surrounding some of the great historical craters, it appears as though the crust is just the beginning to what might have been the 'inside-out' Earth. |
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Capturing the Solar Wind
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| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
05/31/04 |
| The Genesis mission will return captured solar wind later this year using a dramatic helicopter grab of the descending spacecraft. Inside the probe sits the volume equivalent to a few grains of salt, but this first extraterrestrial sample return since Apollo promises insight into our primordial solar system. |
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