More than 3 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) from Earth, an ancient icy object is slowly awakening. As it drifts inward through the solar system, the frozen body known as Centaur 450P/LONEOS has begun releasing gas and dust-behavior more commonly associated with comets than with centaurs, the small icy objects that typically orbit between Jupiter and Neptune.
Saturn encounter may have set distant centaur on path to becoming a comet
Phys.org - 1 Sep 2026 18:00
More than 3 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) from Earth, an ancient icy object is slowly awakening. As it drifts inward through the solar system, the frozen body known as Centaur 450P/LONEOS has begun releasing gas and dust-behavior more commonly associated with comets than with centaurs, the small icy objects that typically orbit between Jupiter and Neptune.
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