Lesson plan
Dark comet
Dark comets are a class of asteroids that exhibit some behavior consistent with comets, but do not grow a comet's tail or produce a coma, making them visually appear as asteroids. They are distinguished from other asteroids by their non-gravitational acceleration, which causes them to deviate from their expected orbital path. Dark comets were first identified as a distinct class of objects in 2023. They mostly fall into two families, the outer dark comets, and the inner dark comets, which are distinguished by their size and orbital characteristics.
Article summary
Dark comets are a class of asteroids that exhibit some behavior consistent with comets, but do not grow a comet's tail or produce a coma, making them visually appear as asteroids. They are distinguished from other asteroids by their non-gravitational acceleration, which causes them to deviate from their expected orbital path. Dark comets were first identified as a distinct class of objects in 2023. They mostly fall into two families, the outer dark comets, and the inner dark comets, which are distinguished by their size and orbital characteristics.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.