This image shows a Small Comet streak (in yellow box). This image was captured by the IRO on January 20, 1999. The longer black streaks are star trails. Click on image for full size (78K JPEG) Courtesy of Dr. Louis A. Frank, The University of Iowa and NASA

Finally, new evidence has been found that supports the Small Comet theory. This evidence is in the form of ground-based observations of these snowy visitors taken between October 1998 and May 1999 by the Iowa Robotic Observatory (IRO) located in Arizona. Dr. Frank and Dr. Sigwarth were able to capture 9 more images of Small Comets during this time period.

With all of this evidence in support, it does appear that there are about 20 snow comets weighing 20 to 40 tons each that crash into the Earth's atmosphere every minute. The comets are no danger to life on Earth because they disintegrate in the atmosphere. In fact, these Small Comets might have been very beneficial to life on Earth. In a paper published in the March 1, 2001 issue of the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research, Dr. Frank and Dr. Sigwarth are now theorizing that the water in the Earth's oceans might have arrived by way of these small snow comets.

Dr. Louis Frank has been a University of Iowa faculty member since 1964. He has been the experimenter, co-investigator or principal investigator for instruments on 42 spacecraft! Dr. John Sigwarth has been Research Scientist at the University of Iowa since 1989. He currently is project scientist for the Visible Imaging System on the Polar spacecraft of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

This image shows a Small Comet streak (in yellow box). This image was captured by the IRO on January 20, 1999. The longer black streaks are star trails. Click on image for full size (78K JPEG) Courtesy of Dr. Louis A. Frank, The University of Iowa and NASA

Dr. Louis Frank and Dr. John Sigwarth have been working been with Small Comets since the early 80's. By using spacecraft images, Frank and Sigwarth were able to see that there were small snowy comets entering the Earth's atmosphere. Dr. Frank and Dr. Sigwarth also used the Iowa Robotic Observatory (IRO) in Arizona to take pictures of small comet streaks.

With all of this evidence in support, it does appear that there are about 20 snow comets weighing 20 to 40 tons each that crash into the Earth's atmosphere every minute. The comets are no danger to life on Earth because they fall apart in the atmosphere. In fact, these Small Comets might have been very beneficial to life on Earth. In the Small Comet theory, Frank and Sigwarth propose that the water in the Earth's oceans might have arrived by way of these small snow comets.

Dr. Louis Frank has been a University of Iowa faculty member since 1964. He has been the experimenter, co-investigator or principal investigator for instruments on 42 spacecraft! Dr. John Sigwarth has been Research Scientist at the University of Iowa since 1989. He currently is project scientist for the Visible Imaging System on the Polar spacecraft of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

This image shows a Small Comet streak (in yellow box). This image was captured by the IRO on January 20, 1999. The longer black streaks are star trails. Click on image for full size (78K JPEG) Courtesy of Dr. Louis A. Frank, The University of Iowa and NASA

Scientists have seen these small comets in spacecraft images. They have also seen the comets using the Iowa Robotic Observatory (IRO) in Arizona.

The comets are no danger to life on Earth because they fall apart in the atmosphere. In fact, some scientists think that the water in the Earth's oceans might have arrived by way of these small snow comets. And that would have been helpful to life on Earth!