The Importance of Asteroid & Comet Research
Though they’re not often talked about as frequently, small bodies, such as asteroids and comets, are just as essential to our understanding of the universe as large planets and stars. Researching small bodies often yields surprising, peculiar, or fascinating information about their composition and evolutions—from volcanoes that erupt rich metal materials to how water ice forms in airless environments. They also provide valuable insight into the early beginnings of our Solar System. These past few years have seen a surge in discoveries surrounding asteroids and comets, and science organizations around the world have detailed plans to study more.
Recent Small-Body Discoveries
Both asteroids and comets are notoriously troublesome to study due to their often peculiar nature and speedy travel patterns, but there are plenty of scientific communities and amateur astronomers watching out for them every year. 2019, in particular, was an exceptionally generous year for small-body discoveries, with multiple successful spacecraft missions providing a wealth of insightful data. The beginning of the year began with NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft performing a flyby of the Kuiper Belt object, Akkorath—marking the farthest spacecraft flyby in history, at one billion miles past Pluto. Later, the second interstellar object to ever pass through the solar system, 2I/Borisov, was discovered by the amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov using his personal, custom-designed observatory. To top it all off, JAXA’s Hyabusa2 even managed to retrieve physical samples from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.
Aside from the discoveries and findings over the past few years, science organizations across the globe are preparing future small-body explorations and programs. NASA plans to study the asteroids Lucy and Psyche, JAXA has launched a small-bodies program, ESA has plans to launch a Comet Interceptor mission, and China plans to launch a sample-gathering flyby mission of an asteroid and comet in 2022. With such a massive influx of interest, things are going pretty well in the world of small-body research!
Public Contributions to Comet & Asteroid Hunting
As showcased earlier, amateur astronomers can make huge astronomical discoveries for the professional scientific community, often using only a home observatory (granted, these are typically sophisticated, and expensive, setups). However, it’s now possible to make discoveries without having $10,000+ to drop on equipment—with Telescope Live.
In one of our previous blog articles, amateur astronomer Erik Bryssinck details his experience observing a brand-new comet named C/2019 V1 (BORISOV) using Telescope Live’s CDK24 Planewave telescope in Chile. Telescope Live offers remote access to a network of advanced telescope equipment, making it possible for anyone to discover a new object in space! Endless curiosity mixed with a bit of skepticism is the driving force of scientific research, but having access to fantastic equipment certainly can’t hurt!