All periodic comets eventually lose their volatiles. The result is an
extinct comet, although nobody knows exactly what that means... an
asteroid? a loose clump of rocky material? There are asteroids which are
believed to be extinct comets (3200 Phaethon, for instance, the parent
body of the Geminids).
Holmes is a Jupiter class comet, which means it isn't in a particularly
stable orbit. It's probably only been in the inner Solar System for a
few thousand years, maybe less. It also doesn't seem particularly active
in general- the two known outbursts excepted. But anytime it's at all
active, it is losing material, and it can't do that forever. It could
also be perturbed into an orbit keeping it far from the Sun, in which
case it would never be active and therefore wouldn't lose more material,
or much closer (or even into) to the Sun, in which case it would rapidly
lose its volatiles.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 9:06 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Comet Holmes, always the same........
Hi,
I saw the picture of Comet Holmes, listed as 1892. Does it, or will it
ever
dissipatate?
Ron
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