September 15, 2013

3552 Don Quixote seen by the Spitzer Space Telescope. On the left you can see its coma and tail. On the right an elaborate processing shows its tail (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/DLR/NAU)

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has allowed to establish that the asteroid 3552 Don Quixote is actually a comet. Research on this celestial body belonging to the NEO (near-Earth object) class, one of those whose orbit is close to that of the Earth or crosses it, was coordinated by researchers at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.