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The Sun as comet snatcher

Nature (2010)Cite this article

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Most of the Solar System's comets may have been stolen from other stars.

New simulations suggest that the Sun may have captured more than its fair share of comets from the primordial star-forming soup. The study, led by Harold Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, seeks to account for the abundance of comets in the outer reaches of the Solar System.

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References

  1. Levison, H. F. & Duncan, M. J. Icarus 127, 13 (1997).

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  2. Levison, H. F., Duncan, M. J., Brasser, R. & Kaufmann, D. E. Science published online, doi: 10.1126/science.1187535 (10 June 2010).

  3. Zheng, J-Q., Valtonen, M. J. & Valtaoja, L. Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astr. 49, 265 (1990).

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  1. Lucas Laursen
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Laursen, L. The Sun as comet snatcher. Nature (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2010.290

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2010.290

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