Comet Crossed Solar System Unnoticed in ‘97, Experts Say
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A comet swept through the solar system in mid-1997, unnoticed by amateurs and professionals alike, Finnish researchers report in today’s Nature. It was discovered only when a team headed by Teemu Makinen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki reexamined data from the SOHO satellite, designed to study the sun and solar wind. Examining data gathered from May through July 1997, they saw five comets in the southern sky. Four of them had been observed, but the fifth was unknown--even though the researchers said it should have been observable from the ground.
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