Unique Fragment from Earth’s Formation Returns after Billions of Years in Cold Storage
![Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope, and the Canada France Hawai`i Telescope, show that C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) is the first object to be discovered that is on a long-period cometary orbit, but that has the characteristics of a pristine inner Solar System asteroid. It may provide important clues about how the Solar System formed. This diagram shows the probable history of this object in both the inner and outer Solar System over a period of more than four billion years.The majority of this time was spent in the cold outskirts, in the Oort Cloud.Credit: ESO/L. Calçada Unique Fragment from Earth’s Formation Returns after Billions of Years in Cold Storage](https://alaska-native-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/image29-04-2016-11.59.30.jpg)
Astronomers have found a unique object that appears to be made of inner Solar System material from the time of Earth’s formation, which has been preserved in the Oort Cloud far from the Sun for billions of years. Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope, and the Canada France Hawai`i Telescope, show that C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) […]