About this episode
The episode discusses the discovery and journey of Kacper's Comet, C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), by Dr. Kacper Wierzchoś.
In 2007 a small icy object moving in the constellation of Ursa Minor crossed the orbit of Pluto at a speed of approximately 4.2 mi/s starting its journey towards the inner solar system. It was between the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter traveling at some 9 mi/s towards the Sun, when my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Dr. Kacper Wierzchoś discovered it on March 3, 2024, while asteroid hunting, in the constellation of Draco, with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. Kacper studies comets passionately was thus excited to observe that it has a coma and a tail.On its way out of the solar system, in 2045, Kacper's COMET C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) will cross the orbit of Pluto heading in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major and is destined to wander between stars in the Milky Way till the end of time.
People in this episode
Host: Albert D. Grauer
Topics covered
- comets
- astronomy
- solar system
- space exploration
- Kacper Wierzchoś
- Draco constellation
Keywords
- Kacper's Comet
- C/2024 E1
- comet discovery
- Ursa Minor
- Draco constellation
- solar system
- astronomy
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Catalina Sky Survey
Places: Ursa Minor, Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Sun, Draco, Mt. Lemmon, Arizona
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