New comets have been discovered

Rob Cardinal is looking for a small planet, but eventually finds a comet.

This is the first time a comet was discovered at the University of Calgary's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, 35 km southwest of Calgary. This is the second broom play discovered in Canada using Canadian telescopes for nearly a decade.

On October 1, Cardinal thought he saw something moving while observing the sky near the North Pole with the Baker-Nunn telescope. The computer analysis of the photographs later showed a moving object, first thought to be a small, very bright planet.

Several photos taken a week later verified that a member 'never seen' in our solar system was discovered . Astronomers in the United States, Japan and the Small Planet Center, located at Harvard University, claim that it is a new comet. It was named after Cardinal and officially called C / 2008 T2 Cardinal.

Cardinal said: 'I am excited to discover this comet. My rewarded work results are very satisfying. '

Russ Taylor, head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, called this discovery a reward for the team of scientists at the observatory.

He said: 'Alan Hilderbrand, chairman of research at Planetary Science, and his team at Rothney assembled the leading space-based telescope in Canada. The discovery of comet Cardinal is an exciting achievement '.

Rob Cardinal is looking for a small planet, but eventually finds a comet.(Photo: University of Calgary).  

There is not much known information about Cardinal comet. Scientists are trying to determine the information about this comet's orbit, whether the above-crossing Earth is cyclical or whether it will only pass through the Sun once, meaning that the orbit of It is parabola.

Phil Langill, director of the observatory, said: 'Most of the known comets are found in the sky called the zodiac - because their orbits are similar to the orbits of the planet'.

'Comet Cardinal has an extremely strange trajectory compared to ordinary objects in the Solar System - it is deviated by 60 degrees compared to other objects. It is now near the North Star. Alan and Rob were very smart looking for that airspace, because everyone was looking for the area where the opportunity to detect the small planet was high. '

Cardinal said the comet is now visible in the Northern hemisphere until June, then it can be seen, more likely to be brighter, in the Southern hemisphere.

Langill says if you own comet material, it's a 4.5-billion-year-old piece of material, with clues about the time when the Sun and the Solar System formed. Comet Cardinal is made up of ice and debris left when the solar system was formed.

Langill added that he was grateful to the local community for remembering to turn off the lights at night. The observatory has worked with Foothills executives to educate people about lighting choices, reducing light usage, and the work astronomers are doing.

He said: 'This discovery is partly due to their merits.'