Will the Crumbling Comet Survive?

On a routine visit to the inner solar system in 1995, astronomers watched as Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 unexpectedly broke into four major detectable fragments. By its next trip past Earth in 2001, scientists noticed that the major fragments had disintegrated even further. Scientists now estimate that the comet has broken into approximately 58 fragments and wonder if it will survive its next trip around the Sun.

In May 2006, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 swings past the Earth again and this time astronomers from across the globe are watching to see if the crumbling comet will disappear completely.

From the ground, some of the worldwide comet-watch includes telescopes at Caltech's Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in Palomar, Calif., and the European Space Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. Meanwhile, NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes snap pictures of the crumbs from space. The Palomar observations were coordinated with observers using the Spitzer Space Telescope, which imaged the comet's fragments labeled "K" through "P" in the infrared. The infrared images combined with the visible-light images obtained using the Palomar Hale Telescope will give astronomers a more complete understanding of the comet's break up.

For more information on these observations, and others, please visit:

• http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/images/73p/ (Palomar Observatory)
• http://www.naoj.org/Pressrelease/2006/05/11/index.html (Subaru telescope)
• http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/pr-15-06.html (Very Large Telescope)
• http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0605.html (Hubble Space Telescope)
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/swift_comet.html (Swift Mission)
• Comet image on Astronomy Picture of the Day
• Comet image on Astronomy Picture of the Day
• Comet image on Astronomy Picture of the Day

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