WASHINGTON (AP) – A new astronomy theory says the solar system’s main asteroid belt is littered with icy invaders from far away.
The so-called invaders are asteroids that seem more like primitive frozen comets than the baked rocks that make up the overwhelming majority of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.
A theory proposed by scientists in the journal Nature suggests the icy rocks are “contamination” from the Kuiper asteroid belt beyond Neptune.
When Saturn and Jupiter scooted farther from the sun nearly 4 billion years ago, the shock sent the tiny distant meteorites spraying about. Planetary scientist Hal Levison suggests some of these got stuck with the asteroids floating between Jupiter and Mars, while others bombarded Earth and the moon.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.
-
Boys' LacrosseOak Hill/Lisbon/Monmouth’s two All-Americans set their sights on a Class C boys lacrosse crown
-
Sports
NHL roundup: Montreal’s interim coach tests positive for COVID-19
-
Nation / World
Apathy greets Iran presidential vote dominated by hard-liner
-
Nation / World
Searchers comb river after 3 tubers die, 2 disappear at dam
-
Business
A robot ship’s aborted effort to cross Atlantic shows difficulty of the experiment
