Comet Hiding In Plain Sight Discovered By NAU-Led Team

For 30 years, a large near-Earth asteroid wandered its lone, intrepid path, passing before the scrutinizing eyes of scientists while keeping something to itself: 3552 Don Quixote, whose journey stretches to the orbit of Jupiter, now appears to be a comet. Don Quixote’s coma and tail (left) as seen in infrared light by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. After image processing (right), the tail is more apparent. Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/DLR/NAU The discovery resulted from an ongoing project led by researchers at Northern Arizona University using the Spitzer Space Telescope.



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