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Podcast: Travelers In The Night
Episode: 229E-241-Could Be Twins
Description: A pair of possibly related comets pass unusually close to Earth.It is hard to have a personal feel for the microgravity of a comet since it is only a few ten thousandths of the pull of gravity we experience on Earth. When a comet comes near Jupiter or perhaps the Earth the tiny gravity which holds it together can be overwhelmed by gravity of the larger object and the comet's structure disrupted.Astronomers have observed comets breaking up into smaller pieces as they orbit the Sun. In a spectacular example, more than 20 years ago Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 became...