Word: interstellar
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...molecules in radio waves from Kohoutek. The discovery has dual significance. Both molecules have been found in the clouds of gases and dust in the vast reaches between the stars; thus their presence in the comet lends strong support to the theory that comets were formed from the same interstellar material out of which the solar system was born. In addition, because both molecules decompose into simpler molecules unless they are frozen, their detection helps confirm the most commonly accepted idea about comets: they are little more than giant icebergs made up of frozen gases and dust...
...other planets and moons were formed. Thus comets are primordial matter, largely unchanged since the solar system's birth. (Lyttleton ascribes a different origin to the comets: he thinks that they are swept up by solar gravity as the sun wheels around the galaxy through clouds of interstellar matter...
...primary objective of the Harvard and Smithsonian scientists is to establish whether comets are formed in the "regions of outer planets or from some interstellar process," Fred L. Whipple, professor of Astronomy, said yesterday...
Kohoutek probably originated far beyond the outermost planet, where billions of comets are believed to orbit the sun. They were apparently born out of the same cloud of interstellar dust and gas that created the sun and the planets some 4.6 billion years ago, and have remained largely unchanged since. Occasionally, the tug of a nearby star pulls a comet into a far more elongated orbit, bringing it closer to the sun and making it visible from earth. Thus, as Kohoutek approaches, astronomers will have a rare opportunity to learn more about the primordial stuff out of which the solar...
...also contains small amounts of other isotopes−oxygen 17 and 18, which were apparently formed later in the sun's history. To the Chicago researchers, the implications are very exciting: the grains may well predate the formation of the solar system and trace back to interstellar dust out of which stars and planets are born...