ScienceAugust 3, 2026
outgassing
OWT-gas-ing
Definition
The release of gas from a solid material, especially from a comet or asteroid as it is heated by the Sun.
Etymology
The word is a compound of the Old English 'ut' (out) and the term 'gas', which was coined by the Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont in the 17th century based on the Greek word 'chaos'.
In the news
The article uses outgassing to explain the unexpected trajectory changes of an object previously thought to be an asteroid. This process acts like a tiny thruster that shifts the object's path through space.
☄️ This near-Earth object is not an asteroid: its trajectory changes
Read the full article ↗Techno-Science