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U.S.WHAT JUST HAPPENED

New comet accidentally discovered by space telescope

The comet, confirmed October eighth, sits over 807 million miles away on an orbit lasting thousands of years; Euclid's own mission plan avoids comet-crowded sky.

On air: Dr. Nina Byte and Hank Ledger on BBN Newsroom
Published
Photo: European Space Agency · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
▶ As it aired · U.S.

Watch it as it aired: Dr. Nina Byte and Hank Ledger on this story, from BBN Newsroom at 11:39 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are Popular Science's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Euclid (space telescope)
Photo: European Space Agency · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0 igo

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  1. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentFour stars again, if anyone's counting. Anyway, a space telescope that wasn't looking for comets just found a comet.

  2. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThat's the one-sentence version, and it's accurate. A telescope found something it wasn't looking for.

  3. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe European Space Agency reported it Monday.

  4. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIt's designated C slash twenty twenty-six S one, Euclid, and the Minor Planet Center confirmed it on October eighth.

  5. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorWhere is it right now?

  6. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentMore than eight hundred seven million miles from Earth. Popular Science says its orbit takes thousands of years to complete.

  7. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThousands of years. So it's not a regular visitor.

  8. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentNo. Euclid launched in twenty twenty-three to study dark matter and dark energy by watching distant galaxies.

  9. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSo comets aren't its job.

  10. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentWorse. Its six-year mission is mapped to avoid sky crowded with comets and asteroids. That's why this is a surprise.

  11. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIt avoided comets and found one anyway.

  12. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe comet showed up in images from September sixteenth to twenty-fourth, in the Euclid Deep Field North region.

  13. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorWho spotted it, if the telescope didn't?

  14. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentA moving object detection program written by an astronomer at the University of Helsinki, because Euclid can't automatically flag such objects.

  15. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSo the computer found it.

  16. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIt's a program, Hank. Fine. The computer.

  17. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIts author, Mikko Pöntinen, said he was excited to see his software flag a streak across several images.

  18. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorWho does this affect?

  19. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentMostly astronomers. Nothing suggests any risk to Earth at that distance. It adds a data point on the outer solar system.

  20. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIs anyone arguing about it?

  21. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentNot really. Euclid archive scientist Bruno Altieri said very few comets are expected from Euclid, so it was a happy coincidence.

  22. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorHappy coincidence. I'll take that over most explanations I get.

  23. Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentSo, a telescope told to avoid comets, with no way to flag them, found one thanks to Helsinki software.

  24. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAnd it won't be back for thousands of years, so nobody can check our work.

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