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Mystery Solved Astronomy

How a meteor shower helped solve the case of the vanishing comet

The cosmic streams of dust revealed the missing object became an asteroid

Phoenicid meteor shower

NOW YOU SEE IT  In December 2014, astronomers spotted members of the Phoenicid meteor shower (one shown, bottom left) for the first time since its discovery in 1956.

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

By Lisa Grossman

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