Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “A ‘Front-Row Seat’ to the Birth of a Comet” by Robin George Andrews
Space is so vast and expansive that generally scientists see only slivers of it at any given moment, which makes the identification of an object named LD2 all the more significant. Right now, astronomers are watching that icy proto-world transform into a hyperactive comet that will head toward the inner solar system in the coming decades.
In this lesson, you will learn about the formation of comets and what makes the discovery of the LD2 comet significant. Then you will participate in a citizen science project to look closely at and identify objects in space.
Warm Up
What do you know about how comets form?
Create a K/W/L Chart with three columns: What I Know, What I Want to Know and What I Learned. In the first column, write down everything you know about comets. Then watch the two-minute video below. As you watch, add any additional information to the “What I Learned” column.
After watching the video, add any questions you have about comets in the “What I Want to Know” column of your chart.
As you read the featured article, you will continue to learn about comets. You can add what you are learning to the “What I Learned” column.
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, then answer the following questions:
1. The article begins, “As Douglas Adams once said: Space is big. Really big.” Why do you think Robin George Andrews, the writer, chose to start the article in this way? How does that sentence set up some of the surprises and excitement about the discoveries in the article?
2. What is LD2 and how did astronomers identify it? What are some of the things that are unique and special about this object?
3. What are the two ways that Centaurs move in space? What happens if they become hyperactive comets?
4. What do astronomers hope to discover by observing LD2 as it makes its 43-year-long transition?
5. What was LD2 millions of years ago? How was it first identified in 2019?
6. How were scientists able to study the hazy cloud called a coma of LD2 and draw a conclusion about where it is in its journey into the warmer region around our sun? Why is this discovery exciting for astronomers?
Going Further
The discovery of LD2 depended on astronomers looking very closely at the sky and identifying something unusual. For this activity, try your hand at identifying space objects by participating in the citizen science project Catalina Outer Solar System Survey. Here’s a summary:
For over twenty years the Catalina Sky Survey has been collecting images of the sky night after night. Hidden deep in these images are exotic and primordial solar-system worlds yet to be discovered: Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs).
By looking at images of the same patch of sky over several months, the motion of distant TNOs can be detected. However, computers often make false detections, and this is where you come in! The detected motion needs to be confirmed, and the human eye is supremely adapted to just this task. This project seeks volunteers to review animated images to make the final determination of whether an object is a real TNO or not. Are you ready to discover new distant, icy worlds?
After you’ve completed the tutorial and tried your luck at identifying Trans-Neptunian Objects, take a few minutes to reflect on your experience:
What did you notice and wonder as you viewed the images? What is one new thing you learned?
What was it like to participate in this project? Did you find it interesting or challenging to identify objects? Why or why not?
Why might research like this, and that done by the scientists you read about in the article, be important? What can we learn from studying space?
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