NASA scientists discovered more than 100 new space rocks over the past year — 10 of which were potentially hazardous. The space agency’s asteroid unit, also known as the Near Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE, said in a press released that appears on their website it also saw an unexplained increase in comet activity.
“Comets that have abrupt outbursts are not commonly found, but this may be due more to the sudden nature of the activity rather than their inherent rarity,” said Emily Kramer, a postdoctoral fellow at the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-author of the study detailing the discoveries. “It is great for astronomers to view and collect cometary data when they find an outburst, but since the activity is so short-lived, we may simple miss them most of the time.”
The NEOWISE program has proven indispensable to the discovery of space objects, according to its scientists.
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