Swift Satellite Tracks C/2007 N3 - Comet Lulin

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By News Staff | February 20th 2009 12:00 AM |



Astronomers using the NASA Swift Satellite are tracking a spectacular comet as it closes in on Earth and sheds gas and dust from its vaporized ice.

A comet is a clump of frozen gases mixed with dust. These "dirty snowballs" cast off gas and dust whenever they venture near the sun. Comet Lulin, which is formally known as C/2007 N3, was discovered last year by astronomers at Taiwan's Lulin Observatory. The comet is now faintly visible from a dark site. Lulin will pass closest to Earth - 38 million miles, or about 160 times farther than the moon - on February 24.

The team is studying the comet to find out more about its chemistry and to gather clues about the origin of comets and the solar system. Swift is a NASA mission in collaboration with the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in the UK and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
“Swift is the ideal spacecraft with which to observe this comet”, said Jenny Carter from the University of Leicester and lead investigator of the team studying the Lulin comet. "We won't be able to send a space probe to Lulin, but Swift is giving us some of the information we would get from just such a mission."



http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/swift_satellite_tracks_c2007_n3_comet_lulin