Sentences with phrase «comets than asteroids»

Not exact matches

However, the Rosina mass spectrometer aboard Rosetta found that the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in the comet is far greater than that found on Earth, adding to the growing body of evidence that the water on Earth was delivered not by comets, as previously thought, but by asteroids.

ICY INTERIOR The solar system's first interstellar visitor might be a comet rather than an asteroid.

Although the consequences are roughly comparable in either case, an important difference is that objects in the solar system that circle far away from the sun on long - period orbits before returning, such as comets, would hit the earth at much greater velocities than close - orbiting (short - period) bodies, such as asteroids.

There are many white dwarfs that hold large amounts of hydrogen in their atmospheres, and this new study suggests that this is evidence that water - rich asteroids or comets are common around other stars than the Sun.»

Surveys funded by NASA's Near Earth Object (NEO) Observations Program (NEOs include both asteroids and comets) account for more than 95 percent of discoveries so far.

Another group has conducted experiments suggesting that the water at these depths was formed on Earth rather than being delivered by comets and asteroids.

The solar system consists of more than just planets; it is also a beehive of asteroids and comets.

Of those deportees, about 4 % came from within about 375 million kilometers of the sun, rendering them rock - or metal - rich bodies like asteroids rather than icy orbs like comets, the researchers report online ahead of print in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Rather than random occurrences, many large airbursts might result from collisions between Earth and streams of debris associated with small asteroids or comets.

Disrupting comets (white and red v's) rather than asteroids (green) contribute most of the dust that makes up the zodiacal cloud (purple haze and inset).

Morbidelli points out that far more asteroids slam into Earth than do comets.

If one of those objects ever fell toward Earth, it would be tougher to spot than a comet (being much darker) and more difficult to divert than the typical near - Earth asteroid (as it would be traveling much faster).

For more than 30 years, scientists have argued about a controversial hypothesis relating to periodic mass extinctions and impact craters — caused by comet and asteroid showers — on Earth.

Making the generous assumption that humans can survive multiple ice ages and deflect an inevitable asteroid or comet strike (NASA predicts that between now and then, no fewer than 10 the size of the rock that wiped out the dinosaurs will hit), the researchers forecast we will then encounter a much bigger problem: an aging sun.

Crashing comets and asteroids can do more than just kill off earthly dinosaurs.

That aspect ratio is greater than any asteroid or comet observed in the solar system.

In fact, the expected annual fatality rate due to climate change is estimated to be far higher than that due to an asteroid or comet impact — 150,000 versus 91, per the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alan Harris of the Space Science Institute, respectively.

As a rule of thumb, older surfaces have been exposed to impacting bodies (meteoroids, asteroids, and comets) for a longer period of time than younger surfaces.

We know it's not a comet, because it has no halo, and we know it's not a normal asteroid, because we've never seen one that is so elongated — about ten times longer than it is wide.

If comets provided even just 1 % of Earth's water, our atmosphere should have much more argon than it does.c Meteorites that contain water also have too much heavy hydrogen.d [Pages 305 — 382 explain why comets, asteroids, and some types of meteorites contain so much water and heavy hydrogen.

«No sufficiently large asteroid currently exists in an Earth - crossing orbit; however, a comet of sufficient size to cause human extinction could impact the Earth, though the annual probability may be less than 10 − 8.

Asteroids and comets appear to be a much more important suppliers of organic molecules on Mars than expected.

With a blink comparator, if an object in the field moves back and forth it is something other than a star — an asteroid or comet, perhaps, or in this case, a newly discovered planet.

During its approach, Rosetta has trained its navcams and OSIRIS camera at the comet, which sent back dramatic pictures of Churyumov — Gerasimenko; revealing it to be craggier and sharper edged than the asteroids and moons previously explored that had been worn down by billions of years of meteor impacts.

That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date.

Using a plot of the innermost solar system, students can count the number of minor planets (asteroids, comets, etc.) with orbits of less than 1.3 Astronomical Units.

But superstorms are, fortunately, not faster than a speeding bullet (leave that to asteroids and comets).)

Being between the Sun and us, they can be much harder to see than they would be if we were looking at them from the Sun - side, as we can for most of the asteroids and comets in the rest of the solar system.

«The planet has been through a lot worse than us... been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages — and we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference?»