Comet | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Fri, 31 Jul 2015 11:33:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Comet | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Rosetta and Philae data dump reveals lots about comets https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-and-philae-data-dump-reveals-lots-about-comets/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-and-philae-data-dump-reveals-lots-about-comets/#respond Fri, 31 Jul 2015 08:36:51 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=261597 The intrepid pair of exploratory spacecraft, Rosetta and Philae, made history last year when they enabled the first landing on a comet. Although it was a somewhat bumpy touchdown and we haven't heard much from Philae lately, it turns out we did learn a lot about the comet in the process; some of which we …

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The intrepid pair of exploratory spacecraft, Rosetta and Philae, made history last year when they enabled the first landing on a comet. Although it was a somewhat bumpy touchdown and we haven't heard much from Philae lately, it turns out we did learn a lot about the comet in the process; some of which we would never have found out if it wasn't for the fact that Philae bounced upon initial contact.

The data released by the European Space Agency was published in the Science journal over several papers, discussing things like the comet's topsoil, which was found to be “soft like snow,” said Jens Biele, a geophysicist with the Philae team (via PopularMechanics). That dusty surface is thought to be about eight inches deep.

However, that top-layer doesn't cover everything on the comet. In the region where Philae came to rest – on its side – the hammer-like tool used to extract samples wasn't able to penetrate the soil, suggesting that it was “at least as hard as pumice.” Though without further experimentation narrowing that down to a more specific resistance will be difficult.

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Several (carbon containing) organic molecules have also been found, several of which were a complete surprise. Although 12 organic compounds were known to exist on comets, methyl isocyanate, acetone, propionaldehyde, and acetamide were brand new discoveries on 67P. This will likely excite those that believe comets not only seeded a young Earth with water, but possibly the building blocks for life too.

As unique and intriguing as all of this information is though, scientists involved in the mission still hold out hope that at some point Philae will be able to drill into the comet's surface and analyse a sample of its interior. As it stands, Philae came back into contact with its parent Rosetta craft, but ongoing communication is proving difficult. Although Philae doesn't appear to be in danger of overheating as was once feared, without regular contact with Rosetta, there isn't much hope that it can complete its task.

When 67P has passed its closest point to the sun, Rosetta may be able to move closer to the surface, to make establishing communication with the lander easier. At that point, the ESA has its best chance of completing that final task before the comet moves too far from the sun for the lander to receive enough power to operate.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The fact that we even landed on the comet is an amazing achievement in itself. It's just a shame it will take so many years to take another stab at it.

Image source: Wikimedia

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Philae comet lander space probe wakes up https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/philae-comet-lander-space-probe-wakes-up/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/philae-comet-lander-space-probe-wakes-up/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2015 08:08:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=254561 It's been seven long months since anyone has heard from the Philae lander, which was touched down on a comet, hundreds of millions of miles from earth, in a descent that was fraught with nail biting triumphs. After 60 hours though, its batteries ran dry, as it had managed to land in an area of near consistent …

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It's been seven long months since anyone has heard from the Philae lander, which was touched down on a comet, hundreds of millions of miles from earth, in a descent that was fraught with nail biting triumphs. After 60 hours though, its batteries ran dry, as it had managed to land in an area of near consistent shade. However, now that it's closer to the sun, its brief periods of sunlight are enough to power it back up and the European Space Agency has begun communicating with it once again.

There had been no guarantee that even as Philae drew closer to its power source, that it would be able to turn back on, but the decade+ old hardware did its just admirably and re-established contact with its parent craft Rosetta, which in turn beamed back its confirmed reinvigoration to Earth, where the ESA informed the world. It's now hoped that Philae will be able to transmit some of the scientific data it still had on board when it shut down last year and also carry out new experiments and take photographs as the comet reaches its closest point to the sun.

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It's expected that as 67P nears the great stellar body, it will continue to heat up and that may cause some strange activity aboard the comet, potentially sending up jets of gas, or even parts breaking off to form the tail. It will reach its closest approach to the sun in August and will be at a distance of 127 million miles from it at that time.

The only worry is, that as it gets closer, Philae itself may overheat, though at this time, it's racing through space at a comfortable – relatively – minus 35 degrees celsius.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's great to see Philae come back online, if for no other reason than the ESA does a great job of making all of its space craft feel as if they are talking to one another. 

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Rosetta data suggests comets didn’t seed Earth’s water https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-data-suggests-comets-didnt-seed-earths-water/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-data-suggests-comets-didnt-seed-earths-water/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2014 09:51:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=225852 As smart as humans like to think they are, we have only been kicking around this planet in our current form for 200,000 years or so. When compared with the age of the universe, or even our own little rock within it, that's not even a minute on the cosmic calendar. Still, we did manage …

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As smart as humans like to think they are, we have only been kicking around this planet in our current form for 200,000 years or so. When compared with the age of the universe, or even our own little rock within it, that's not even a minute on the cosmic calendar. Still, we did manage to land a probe on a comet several hundred million miles away and thanks to it and its orbiting parent's scientific experiments we now know, probably, that Comets didn't seed our planet with water. At least not on their own.

The idea that water on Earth came from comets was a theory that has been bandied around for some time, but based on the chemical composition of the water found within the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, that now seems unlikely. Why? Because water on earth is almost entirely H20, that is, two hydrogen molecules combined with an oxygen molecule. However, very occasionally, say one in ever 10,000 water molecules, instead of the Hydrogen-1 isotope (protium) there is instead, a Hydrogen-2 isotope, known as deuterium. Otherwise known as “heavy water.”

On earth, that sort of molecule is very rare, but not in 67P.

Speaking with the BBC's Radio 4 Inside Science programme, professor Kathrin Altwegg of the University of Bern – who was the principle investigator of the instrument used to measure water on Rosetta – said:
“It is the highest-ever measured ratio of heavy water relative to light water in the Solar System.

“It is more than three times higher than on the Earth, which means that this kind of comet could not have brought water to the Earth.”

67p
Formed billions of years ago, 67P could hold all sorts of secrets about our solar system's formation

As convinced as she is however, it's worth noting that we have only analysed water on two comets that come from the Kuiper belt, a region of space within our solar system that extends beyond the planets. On top of that, the comet other than 67P that we looked at, the much more easy to pronounce, Hartley 2, did contain water profiles much more like our oceans on Earth.

Altwegg believes these differences account for different regions in the formation of the belt during the early life of the solar system. Instead of these comets seeding a young Earth's water, she believes that asteroids are more likely to be responsible. Her reasoning, was that in samples of asteroids – metorites – that we've studied, their “characteristics… are very much like our water.”

She also noted that they orbit closer to the Sun and are therefore far more likely to impact the Earth.

Not everyone agrees of course, with some still holding on to the comet-water theory. Those who do, want us to study comets from closer to the Earth, those currently orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, in what's known as the “main-belt.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This is some real time machine stuff guys. Comets are time capsules from billions of years ago and we just dug this one up. 

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Rosetta successfully releases Philae Lander for comet descent https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-successfully-releases-philae-lander-for-comet-descent/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-successfully-releases-philae-lander-for-comet-descent/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2014 09:15:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=221528 Update: The confirmation has come through. Philae has successfully separated from the Rosetta Probe “flawlessly” and now begins its multiple hour descent. This is quite an emotional moment for the Probe's crew back here on Earth, as Philae and Rosetta have travelled through space inseparably for over 10 years and now begin the next stage …

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Update: The confirmation has come through. Philae has successfully separated from the Rosetta Probe “flawlessly” and now begins its multiple hour descent. This is quite an emotional moment for the Probe's crew back here on Earth, as Philae and Rosetta have travelled through space inseparably for over 10 years and now begin the next stage of their journeys alone.

Original Story: Just two days ago we learned the news that the Rosetta probe, currently in orbit around a comet named 67P hundreds of millions of miles away, was readying to separate its lander Philae. It was initially thought that by now we'd have the lander portion of the space craft on the surface of 67P, but a problem with the lander's thrusters (designed to prevent it bouncing off of the surface) caused a slight delay. However the European Space Agency has given it the go ahead to land anyway, using just the harpoons and feet screws to secure it in place.

At the time of writing, the Rosetta team is waiting on confirmation that the probe has released the lander and that the descent has begun. The signal of any movements made or steps taken by Rosetta can take up to half an hour to reach us, so we're just playing the waiting game right now.

You can watch the live steam of it here.

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The ESA's team is quiet, but clearly confident while they wait for confirmation

Beyond the separation, there is the descent stage to consider, which once begun will take around seven hours to complete. Confirmation of a landing on 67P will hopefully appear around 4PM this afternoon. From there, Philae can begin taking pictures and studying the structure of a comet for the first time, hopefully giving us a unique insight into how parts of our solar system were formed, potentially even giving us a hint of how planets are seeded with life.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Congratulations to the ESA team and fingers crossed for the next steps. 

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Rosetta to land on comet in next 36 hours https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-to-land-on-comet-in-next-36-hours/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/rosetta-to-land-on-comet-in-next-36-hours/#respond Mon, 10 Nov 2014 09:07:29 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=221100 Remember Rosetta? The little probe that left Earth back in 2004 and spent a near decade taking a jaunt through space so that it could finally enter orbit around the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet? Back in August this year it did just that and many watched it happen live. If that's something you did tune in for or …

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Remember Rosetta? The little probe that left Earth back in 2004 and spent a near decade taking a jaunt through space so that it could finally enter orbit around the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet? Back in August this year it did just that and many watched it happen live. If that's something you did tune in for or wished you'd seen as it happened, set yourself a reminder for 34 hours from now, as that's when the lander portion of Rosetta will begin its official ‘descent' to the comet's surface. 

You may need to set aside a fair block of time however, as despite being just 10 kilometres above the surface of 67P, the Philae Lander will take as much as seven hours to reach it, travelling at less than one metre per second by the time it reaches the surface. This is to make sure that it doesn't simply bounce off due to the comet's exceedingly low gravitational pull.

For some context, the escape velocity for 67P is just 0.5 metres per second, or 1.1 miles per hour. In short, walking speed would see you ejected into space. 

philae
Artist's interpretation of Philae touched down on the comet's surface. Source: ESA

When it does land though, it will be a historic scientific milestone, marking the first time that a human satellite has landed on a comet's nucleus. While we have smashed satellites into comets before (known as impactors) throwing up debris for us to study, this will be the first controlled landing and will give us a great insight into what comets are really made of. 

Once landed, Philae will conduct a number of experiments over a seven day period, though if all goes well many months of tests may be possible. Some of the equipment on Philae will be used to take pictures of the comet in different spectrums of light, as well as testing it for certain types of radiation. Other collections of sensors will be used to test things like the density, temperature and physical properties of the comet's surface. 

To watch the landing play out live, head to the LiveStream here.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says:  We have our fingers crossed for you Philae. Make us proud. 

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Watch live as the Rosetta probe circularises comet orbit https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/watch-live-as-the-rosetta-probe-circularises-comet-orbit/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/watch-live-as-the-rosetta-probe-circularises-comet-orbit/#respond Wed, 06 Aug 2014 09:17:15 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=206078 Update: It's done it. Rosetta has reached the comet! The Rosetta Probe was launched into the cosmos over a decade ago back in March 2004, with plans to have it rendezvous with a comet, begin orbiting it – essentially sticking to it like the moon does with the Earth – and eventually land on it. This will …

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Update: It's done it. Rosetta has reached the comet!

The Rosetta Probe was launched into the cosmos over a decade ago back in March 2004, with plans to have it rendezvous with a comet, begin orbiting it – essentially sticking to it like the moon does with the Earth – and eventually land on it. This will give us whole new swathes of data on the structure of comets, how they interact with other aspects of the solar system and make it all the more easier for us to land astronauts on an asteroid in the future. And today, it's set to begin the final leg of its journey.

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CG image of the Rosetta probe. 

Set to begin its retrograde burn in the next few minutes, allowing it to slow down enough that the comet's tiny gravitational pull will allow it to eventually orbit the body, Rosetta's journey has had scientists on tenterhooks for years. It entered hibernation over two years ago before being awoken this year, to help conserve power. It's also used the gravitational pull of the Earth and Mars to help accelerate it to the speeds needed to intercept the speeding comet, known as 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Rosetta is equipped with a four megapixel camera that will be able to give us images of the comet as it approaches and enters a stable orbit. The plan is to have Rosetta orbit at around 100KM distance, until it wants to drop off its small probe body known as Philae.

http://livestre.am/6XD.

Watch live streaming video from eurospaceagency at livestream.com

Philae is a small robotic lander attached to the Rosetta probe, that will give us the first contact images of human hardware with a comet, giving us our first real look at what it's made of. It will also be able to use a variety of instruments to analyse the comet, such as an X-Ray spectrometer, which will look at its chemical composition, a gas chromatrograph to see if any volatile components are present, an infrared scanner to look beneath the surface of the comet and a magnetometer, among several other tools and sensors.

Unfortunately with all the action set to take place in the next 30 minutes or so, there's a lot of people trying to view the livestream right now and it's almost impossible to have it load without buffering, but I'd still recommend giving it a go if you're a fan of space exploration, as this is a landmark day in human space adventuring.

KitGuru Says: It's worth remembering that this is a 10 year mission that involves getting caught in the gravity of something that is so weak, it only requires 0.47 metres per second of propulsion to escape it. 

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Comet survives near solar-miss https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/comet-survives-near-solar-miss/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/comet-survives-near-solar-miss/#respond Mon, 02 Dec 2013 09:46:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=165303 Since I've been playing Kerbal Space Program all weekend, I figured I had to cover this story today. A comet by the name of Ison, has survived a fly-by with the biggest ball of burning gas in our solar system, the sun, despite the fact that comets are mostly made up of ice. Comet Ison …

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Since I've been playing Kerbal Space Program all weekend, I figured I had to cover this story today. A comet by the name of Ison, has survived a fly-by with the biggest ball of burning gas in our solar system, the sun, despite the fact that comets are mostly made up of ice.

Comet Ison has been under scrutiny by astronomers and scientists for over a year, as part of the Sungrazing Comets project, which as you might imaging, has a certain speciality. “It's just typical that right at the end, when we said, ‘yes, it has faded out, it's died, we've lost it in the Sun', that a couple of hours later it should pop right back up again,” said head of the project, Karl Battams, to BBC News.”

Of course the comet isn't unscathed, but a bright spot currently viewable by astronomers, seems to suggest that part of it did survive the fly-by.

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It's not clear at this time, whether the comet was piloted by these men

No one knows whether the comet fragment will survive as it continues its orbit away from the sun, but Battams and pals urge people to be patient asthey collate their data and look at more images to determine the likely future for Ison. 

KitGuru Says: I've made it to the moon a couple of times on Kerbal so far, but never close to the sun. Maybe that should be tonight's project. It'll need oh so many rockets, but it'll be worth it.

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NASA takes a closer look at super-bright comet https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasa-takes-a-closer-look-at-super-bright-comet/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasa-takes-a-closer-look-at-super-bright-comet/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:03:09 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=130352 Researchers at the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) have been using the Swift telescope to take a closer look at ISON, a comet that could be the brightest one for the past 50 years – though it won't hit its peak luminosity until it grazes the sun, at a mere 730,000 miles on 28th …

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Researchers at the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) have been using the Swift telescope to take a closer look at ISON, a comet that could be the brightest one for the past 50 years – though it won't hit its peak luminosity until it grazes the sun, at a mere 730,000 miles on 28th November.

At that point it will become far brighter due to a process called sublimation, where some of the comet's icy structure is melted into vapour and released, along with dust, which reflects the sun's light. However we may get our best look at ISON further out from the sun, as it will pass by the earth on 26th December, at a distance of 40 million miles. It'll also skim Mars earlier in the year (1st October) at a distance of 6.7 million miles, where orbiting instruments may be able to pick up more information on it.

“Comet ISON has the potential to be among the brightest comets of the last 50 years, which gives us a rare opportunity to observe its changes in great detail and over an extended period,” said Lead Investigator Dennis Bodewits, an astronomer at UMCP.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40wICUY5VmU']

Officially designated as C/2012 S 1, ISON was discovered on 21st September 2012, by a pair of Russian astronomers: Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichinok.

KitGuru Says: Unfortunately due to the extreme angle ISON is set to pass the sun at, it'll be difficult to detect because of the sun's glare. It's thought that it may ultimately be more visible as it travels further from its brightest point. 

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Asteroid that killed dinosaurs was actually a comet https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/asteroid-that-killed-dinosaurs-was-actually-a-comet/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/asteroid-that-killed-dinosaurs-was-actually-a-comet/#comments Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:22:09 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=129088 It's generally accepted that whatever created the 180km wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico was the giant rock that wiped out all non-bird-like dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. However there's a new suggestion that it may not have been an asteroid, but a comet. The reason behind this thinking was outlined at the 44th Lunar …

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It's generally accepted that whatever created the 180km wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico was the giant rock that wiped out all non-bird-like dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. However there's a new suggestion that it may not have been an asteroid, but a comet.

The reason behind this thinking was outlined at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, where the focus of interest was the sediments deposited by the impact. These sediments occur globally, therefore we know there was a great upsurge of dust and debris from the impact, but according to new research, the amount of iridium kicked up was much less than initially stated.

This would suggest a smaller body hit the earth back then, but that would need to be something travelling far faster if it was to claim responsibility for creating the giant crater. The suggestion from scientists, is that it could well have been a comet instead.

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Pictured: Actual dinosaurs running from the comet.

“You'd need an asteroid of about 5km diameter to contribute that much iridium and osmium. But an asteroid that size would not make a 200km-diameter crater,” said Dr Jason Moore, from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, while speaking with the BBC.

“So we said: how do we get something that has enough energy to generate that size of crater, but has much less rocky material? That brings us to comets.”

Not everyone agrees with this finding however, which relies on the global distribution of the impactor's matter. Some studies claim as much as 70 per cent was distributed around the world, whereas others only 20 per cent. If it was the latter, an asteroid could still be responsible.

KitGuru Says: While it seems there isn't quite a consensus about how this went down just yet, I think we can all agree it's about time we had Jurassic Park style dinosaur Zoos. Can we sort out cloning those bad boys yet? I'm fed up of waiting.

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Comet closing for good tomorrow with 50 per cent sale https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/comet-closing-for-good-tomorrow-with-50-per-cent-sale/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/comet-closing-for-good-tomorrow-with-50-per-cent-sale/#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:00:20 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=119266 Comet, one of Britain's more iconic electronics stores, is set to shut up shop for good from tomorrow, with the 50 per cent – off everything bar high end electronics – sale that ran over the weekend continuing throughout the day. Like HMV's financial troubles that we reported on earlier today, Comet has been in …

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Comet, one of Britain's more iconic electronics stores, is set to shut up shop for good from tomorrow, with the 50 per cent – off everything bar high end electronics – sale that ran over the weekend continuing throughout the day.

Like HMV's financial troubles that we reported on earlier today, Comet has been in business a long long time, beginning in 1933. While this doesn't mean much to the majority of shoppers out there, it shows just what a heritage is being lost by the ending of such a business.

Comet
Sleep well sweet prince

Perhaps less sad and more irritating, is that the owners of the company that purchased Comet back at the end of 2011 for just £2, OpCapita – the firm that also bought out the beleaguered GAME – will still be netting tens of millions of pounds from its investment, despite Comet's collapse. Despite this, creditors of the company won't receive anything and neither will the government, including £50 million in unpaid taxes.

The statement from the company reads (via ManagementToday): “We are sorry for all the Comet employees who have served the business and customers with great loyalty and have lost their jobs at such a difficult time. OpCapita installed a new management team led by John Clare, who did their utmost to revive the loss-making Comet business, but a combination of adverse factors, including the withdrawal of credit insurance and the consequent reluctance of suppliers to supply the business on normal terms meant it became impossible for the business to carry on trading.”

If you're planning to check out the sale, make sure you confirm your local Comet is still open, as many have closed already. The full list of still open stores is here.

KitGuru Says: While with the lack of high street electronic retail business – unless you're an Apple user – the loss of Comet is somewhat understandable, it's still a shame. However, the question now remains, will OpCapita end up doing the same with GAME?

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Comet dying due to Deloitte’s doomsday deal? https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jules/comet-dying-due-to-deloittes-doomsday-deal/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jules/comet-dying-due-to-deloittes-doomsday-deal/#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:21:27 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=115407 When a company enters administration, one of the first things they do is blow out any remaining stock to get cash in – so that the business can be kept alive while a rescue plan is put in place. Comet seems to be going with a different strategy. KitGuru drives down to a Comet store …

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When a company enters administration, one of the first things they do is blow out any remaining stock to get cash in – so that the business can be kept alive while a rescue plan is put in place. Comet seems to be going with a different strategy. KitGuru drives down to a Comet store to see, first hand, just how badly things can be run.

Once the darling of the high street electronics stores, Comet suffered from not being quite big enough to cope with rapid changes in the competitive landscape.

While its online store is pretty good, it was up against huge challenges from Amazon, eBuyer and others. At the same time, it was carrying a huge burden on rent with another big bill for the staff needed to run those stores.

In the end, it was all too much and the company is presently teetering on the edge of the abyss.

Having heard rumours that Comet has just pushed a BIG spend into advertising price cuts, while actually appearing to put prices up, we decided to pay a visit to our local super store to see what gives. Our preferred product was a simple drinks cooler – the kind of glass fronted fridge you find in modern bars.

Here's our experience.

The staff were friendly and we soon latched onto a cheerful chatty chap from the provinces. We'd scanned the pricing on regular fridges and were struggling to see anything under £150, and certainly no bargains on the drinks cooler we had in mind. We asked “What gives with the product pricing?”.

“Well, that's Deloitte for you”, he said. “We've been told that lots of the stock we had does not even belong to Comet. It was bought on consignment, which means that the manufacturers still own it and they want it back”.

That explains the empty shelves. What about the seemingly high prices?

“We've been told not to show any discounts – and to only move down 10% if we're pushed by a customer who wants to buy immediately”, said Comet man. We asked about the stuff on show seeming to be expensive and were told, “Yes, you're right. The real bargains had gone and we now seem to have just the expensive items”.

Neville Kahn from Deloitte says that Comet is experiencing “Record sales”, but we saw no evidence of this during our visit. Just a lot of disappointed vultures, walking around the same carcass, wondering why there was no juicy meat on offer.

Comet man finished by saying that “We expect there to be some big discounts in the next few days, to try and clean out the store, but everyone thinks we're going to be sacked because there's absolutely no way we will be ready for Christmas”.

We asked what he meant and he told us that in order to capitalise on the big push from November to January, Comet stores would normally be packed to bursting with product – so that customers could achieve instant satisfaction. He said that if a product was not sitting on the shelf, at the right price, when they walked in the door – then they would simply go to Currys.

Not sure if Deloitte would deliberately lie about sales success, but it does seem that the administrator's present strategy is to ‘close Comet completely' – with no hope of salvation, well before Santa comes looking for his domestic goodies. Currys and Amazon must be celebrating and looking forward to a big Q4 boost.

But with Currys, Amazon and the big supermarkets waiting to take up any slack, you now have to ask yourself "How much do I really need that 'hardly special' offer from Currys?"

KitGuru says: The Husky cooler we wanted was almost £190 in Comet with no discount available, but 10% less in Currys next door. Also, Currys had sourced the same cooler under its own brand ‘Logik' and was selling it for just £99. We bought one and paused for a moment's silence to mourn the passing of a retail giant and the job losses that seem inevitable following Deloitte's spell in charge.

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Comet likely to enter administration https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/comet-likely-to-enter-administration/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/comet-likely-to-enter-administration/#respond Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:02:21 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=114221 High street electrical retailer Comet, is looking likely to enter administration sometime in the next week, putting more than 6,000 employees at risk of losing their jobs. Comet has been struggling for a while now, though it was thought when it was bought by OpCapita just less than a year ago for £2, that it …

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High street electrical retailer Comet, is looking likely to enter administration sometime in the next week, putting more than 6,000 employees at risk of losing their jobs.

Comet has been struggling for a while now, though it was thought when it was bought by OpCapita just less than a year ago for £2, that it might be possible to turn it around. The London based investment firm drafted in ex-Dixons head John Clare, but despite massive staff layoffs and store closures, the retailer's sales have continued to dwindle.

Much of the downturn is being blamed on the growth of etailers like Amazon, as well as new competition from supermarkets. The electrical hardware business has always been very competitive, with low margins on individual sales. Now with Comet's credit line cut off, it looks to have drawn its last breath.

However that's what everyone said about GAME and after its purchase by OpCapita it is managing to hold on for now.

Comet
Comet might be 'dying' electricals soon. Get it?

According to The Guardian, Audit firm Deloitte is waiting for the nod to take over the administration of the company. It could be announced as soon as this afternoon, but is expected to take place sometime in the next week.

Comet is far from the first large British company to enter administration in the past 12 months. GAME was the big one earlier this year, but JJB Sports also went through one. Both names survive but as a shadow of their former selves, with far fewer outlets and far fewer employees.

KitGuru Says: Do any of you shop in Comet any more? It's been almost a decade since I used a high street retailer for electronics.

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