According to a press release , on the sides opposite the impact, the loosely bound volatile elements are ejected slowly enough that they attract each other and clump back together. This creates multiple smaller bodies, which in turn combine to form one larger object.Though this is interesting, the key insight shown in the simulations is that comets can reform in a just a few short days, even hours in some cases. Since such collisions occur frequently in the Kuiper belt (the ring of comets beyond Neptune), Chury could have formed at any point in time, not just in the early solar system like previously thought.The timing of Chury’s birth is not the only problem the researchers solved with this new study. The simulations also show that holes and stratified layers — features that have been observed in Chury — should form within a comet that reconstructs itself in this manner.Finally, the researchers found that if Chury formed in one of these types of collisions, it would not be significantly heated or compressed. Without heat or pressure, the primordial material that makes up the comet would remain in pristine condition. So, even if Chury formed just a few decades back, astronomers can still analyze its material and learn about the origins of the solar system . Not too bad for a comet that looks like a toy duck.

ESA/Rosettta/NavCam/S. R. Schwartz et al.