Would You Believe a Million Pieces?

In a followup to my previous post on Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3, the latest image from the Spitzer Space Telescope shows innumerable pieces that have broken off from Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3. The Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared telescope meaning it sees infrared light, which has wavelengths just a bit longer than the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum you or I can see with our eyes. Sunlight heats the pieces of the comet, causing them to radiate infrared light, so they can be detected by this telescope. The tails from the pieces trail away from the Sun, showing us the solar direction.

There are at least 36 major pieces of this comet. However, dust, pebbles, and boulder-sized peices eminate from the larger pieces as sun light melts the comet. This cometary debris will form spectacular meteor showers in the year 2022 when the Earth is expected to pass through this debris.

Maximum Distance from the Sun

• Mercury()
  43.4 million miles

  Venus()
  68 million miles

• Earth()
  94.5 million miles

  Mars()
  155 million miles

• Jupiter()
  508 million miles

  Saturn ()
  938 million miles

• Uranus()
  1.87 billion miles

  Neptune()
  2.82 billion miles