Shortly after publishing his book Turin happened on an article about a gadget that analyzed molecules, called an electron-tunneling spectroscope.

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It would be obvious to anyone who turned a spectroscope on Earth, for example, that something odd was going on.

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And Geraghty rode his fourth winner of the Festival as 20-1 chance Spectroscope edged out Tony McCoy on Well Chief in the JCB Triumph Hurdle.

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The first is that the asteroid is really a ball of ice, like the nucleus of a comet, and that the minerals which the spectroscope detected are only a coating.

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