News | NASA's NEOWISE Mission Spies One Comet, Maybe Two
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6712
NASA's NEOWISE mission has recently discovered some celestial objects traveling through our neighborhood, including one
on the blurry line between asteroid and comet. Another--definitely a comet--might be seen with binoculars through next week.
An object called 2016 WF9 was detected by the NEOWISE project on Nov. 27, 2016. It's in an orbit that takes it on a scenic
tour of our solar system. At its farthest distance from the sun, it approaches Jupiter's orbit. Over the course of 4.9 Earth-
years, it travels inward, passing under the main asteroid belt and the orbit of Mars until it swings just inside Earth's own
orbit. After that, it heads back toward the outer solar system. Objects in these types of orbits have multiple possible origins;
it might once have been a comet, or it could have strayed from a population of dark objects in the main asteroid belt.