[meteorite-list] Comet Holmes, always the same........

[Greg Redfern]

Happy Thanksgiving to our American colleagues - and holiday blessing to
our international colleagues.

Do not forget that Murchison is thought by some in the community to be a
leading candidate as a "dead comet" due to its 98 known amino acids and
13% water by volume. I for one love the smell of my Murchison that I
keep under a bell jar - it truly smells like a cognac.

All the best,

Greg Redfern
NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html
WHAT'S UP?: THE SPACE PLACE
http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=600113&nid=421


-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Chris
Peterson
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 11:23 AM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Comet Holmes, always the same........

All periodic comets eventually lose their volatiles. The result is an 
extinct comet, although nobody knows exactly what that means... an 
asteroid? a loose clump of rocky material? There are asteroids which are

believed to be extinct comets (3200 Phaethon, for instance, the parent 
body of the Geminids).

Holmes is a Jupiter class comet, which means it isn't in a particularly 
stable orbit. It's probably only been in the inner Solar System for a 
few thousand years, maybe less. It also doesn't seem particularly active

in general- the two known outbursts excepted. But anytime it's at all 
active, it is losing material, and it can't do that forever. It could 
also be perturbed into an orbit keeping it far from the Sun, in which 
case it would never be active and therefore wouldn't lose more material,

or much closer (or even into) to the Sun, in which case it would rapidly

lose its volatiles.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron" <faceter01 at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 9:06 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Comet Holmes, always the same........


> Hi,
>
> I saw the picture of Comet Holmes, listed as 1892. Does it, or will it

> ever
> dissipatate?
>
> Ron

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