Apr 4 1996
From The Space Library
An international team of researchers announced that, while tracking Comet Hyakutake in March 1996, they had discovered x-rays emitting from the comet. German scientists working at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, had collaborated on the project with NASA scientists based at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Konrad Dennryl, who had directed the use of Germany's ROSAT (Rontgensatellit) for the project, called the discovery of the x-rays "a thrilling moment." The comet emitted far stronger radiation signals than the scientists had expected, about 100 times brighter than anticipated. The scientists could not explain why the comet gave off such intense x-rays, but offered two preliminary hypotheses: 1) the gaseous molecules surrounding the comet absorbed x-rays from the Sun before reemitting the same x-rays; or 2) violent collisions between the comet material and the supersonic wind and particles from the Sun produced the extraordinarily strong x-rays. The scientists vowed to ascertain conclusively why the comet x-rays behaved as they did.
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