There are a lot of small comets coursing through the solar system, according to the controversial theory (and plentiful evidence) presented by the late University of Iowa space physicist Louis Frank in his book Cosmic Rain. Of the many intriguing questions this discovery raises, one is: how far do these comets get before being annihilated by the Sun? Small comet proponent William Abbott believes they make it to the hollows of Mercury and even the Sun itself. He argues that infalling small comets are the likely source of the water vapor that has been observed in sunspots. And as far as Mercury is concerned, there are at least a trillion tons of glacial ice in Mercury’s permanently shaded craters, and no one has a good explanation for how glacial and crystalline water-ice could be present in such vast quantities for millions of years on Mercury’s surface. Unless of course some of it has formed quite recently by the constant infall of Frank’s small, water-bearing comets. Why is no one connecting the dots? (PH)
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