Manx comet explained

A Manx comet is a class of rocky, minor, celestial bodies that have a long-period comet orbit. Unlike most bodies on a long-period comet orbit which typically sport long, bright tails, a Manx comet is tailless, more typical of an inner Solar System asteroid.^[1] The nickname comes from the Manx breed of tailless cat. Examples include C/2013 P2 (PANSTARRS), discovered on 4 August 2013,^[2] which has an orbital period greater than 51 million years,^[3] and C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS), discovered on 22 September 2014, which is thought to originate from the Oort cloud and could help explain the formation of the Solar System.^{[4] [5]}

External links

• JPL Small-Body Database Browser: C/2013 P2 (PANSTARRS)
• JPL Small-Body Database Browser: C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS)

Notes and References

1. News: Orbit like a comet, rocky like an asteroid . earthsky.org . 3 May 2016.
2. C/2013 P2 Pan STARRS - The Manx Comet . Karen. Meech. AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #46. November 2014. 46 . 200.02. 2014DPS....4620002M.
3. News: First Observations of the Surfaces of Objects from the Oort Cloud . Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa . 10 November 2014.
4. Inner solar system material discovered in the Oort cloud . Science Advances. Karen. Meech. 29 April 2016. 2 . 4 . e1600038 . 10.1126/sciadv.1600038 . 27386512 . 4928888 . 2016SciA....2E0038M .
5. News: Comet with Stunted Tail Hints at How Solar System Formed . Astrobiology at NASA . 23 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20170427172150/https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/comet-with-stunted-tail-hints-at-how-solar-system-formed/. April 27, 2017. 23 January 2019.