When the comet 17P/Holmes orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter burst out, it spread a vast number of particles on its trail. Academic project leader Maria Gritsevich is involved in multinational research that found out the comet´s trail resembles a gigantic hourglass.
On May, researchers from an international research group from Finland, Canada, and Russia, publicized findings about the dust trail of the comet 17P/Holmes, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The group was led by Maria Gritsevich, adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki and senior researcher at the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute.
- The comet burst out in October 2007, which was the largest known outburst by a comet thus far. A vast number of particles was ejected from the comet which we have been mapping out with the models, says Gritsevich.
- The event was unusual, as the comet became the largest object in the solar system for a while.
The comet orbits the sun in about 7 years. Every year when Earth is crossing the cometary plane is when the geometry of observing the particles released in the phenomenon is most favorable. For the research, astronomers observed the comet using telescopes in Australia, Finland, and the USA in two periods, from 2013 to 2015, and from 2020 to 2021. They have now followed up with the additional observations, confirming the predictions, in 2022. The newest findings were recently presented at the EPSC.
- The models counted that the optimal time for observing this phenomenon on Earth was in the end of February and in the late summer of 2022, says Gritsevich.
