Nyrath Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23942/ Object 133P is orbiting in the asteroid belt with a typical asteroid orbit, but it is emitting dust like a comet. Possibility 1: it's a comet that managed to ping-pong into an asteroid orbit. The odds against this are ...wait for it... "astronomical." (rimshot) Possibility 2: it's an asteroid containing ice that recently suffered a collision. Astronomer Henry Hsieh did a sky survey, low and behold, there was a second dust emitting object (176P/LINEAR). Since the odds against two instances of Possibility 1 existing are even worse than astronomical, this argues that Possibility 2 is the case. Of course, we Star Hero game masters know that the real explanation is that these asteroid like objects are actually giant eggs. That are now hatching... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattingly Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid Naw, it's obviously a UFO with a leaking warp nacelle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid Naw' date=' it's obviously a UFO with a leaking warp nacelle.[/quote'] It's not a leak. They're just flushing their space toilets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Re: The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid Astronomers notice that one ice fragment looks like the Millenium Falcon, and another like Boba Fett's Slave One. Shortly afterward the asteroid makes the jump to light-speed and vanishes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 Re: The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23942/ Object 133P is orbiting in the asteroid belt with a typical asteroid orbit, but it is emitting dust like a comet. Possibility 1: it's a comet that managed to ping-pong into an asteroid orbit. The odds against this are ...wait for it... "astronomical." (rimshot) Possibility 2: it's an asteroid containing ice that recently suffered a collision. Astronomer Henry Hsieh did a sky survey, low and behold, there was a second dust emitting object (176P/LINEAR). Since the odds against two instances of Possibility 1 existing are even worse than astronomical, this argues that Possibility 2 is the case. Of course, we Star Hero game masters know that the real explanation is that these asteroid like objects are actually giant eggs. That are now hatching... but... the asteroid-comet link has been known for YEARS - a good proportion of the Earth-crossing asteroids are now thought to be dead comets.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted August 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Re: The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid but... the asteroid-comet link has been known for YEARS - a good proportion of the Earth-crossing asteroids are now thought to be dead comets.... Yes, but these asteroids were apparently not Earth-crossing asteroids. They had standard asteroid belt orbits, which is almost impossible for a comet to alter its trajectory into. Impossible, of course, unless some sinister alien intelligence had a hand in it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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