New Earth Bombardment Model: How Asteroid and Comet Strikes May Have Delayed Evolution of the Atmosphere
Study finds collisions that stalled oxygen growth on planet more common than thought. Between 2.5 and 4 billion years ago, a time known as the…
Comet
A Spacecraft Could Tag Along for a Journey Toward the Sun To Watch a Comet Form in Real-Time
‘Centaurs’ near Jupiter could provide unique opportunity to learn about solar system, says University of Chicago scientist. Deep in the solar system, between Jupiter and…
Interstellar Comets Like Borisov – Incredible Rogue Visitors or More Common Than We Think?
In 2019, astronomers spotted something incredible in our backyard: a rogue comet from another star system. Named Borisov, the icy snowball traveled 110,000 miles per…
Doomed Celestial Visitor May Have Been Piece of Prehistoric Comet
Comet Atlas May Have Been a Blast From the Past When our very early ancestors were colonizing the Nile River Valley, 5,000 years ago at…
Fizzing Sodium May Explain Asteroid Phaethon’s Majestic Cometlike Activity
Models and lab tests suggest the asteroid could be venting sodium vapor as it orbits close to the Sun, explaining its increase in brightness. As…
Lucky Encounter: Solar Orbiter Spacecraft Flies Through the Tail of a Disintegrated Comet
A serendipitous flythrough of the tail of a disintegrated comet has offered scientists a unique opportunity to study these remarkable structures, in new research presented…
Activity Observed on Newly Discovered Visitor to the Outer Edges of Our Solar System
A newly discovered visitor to the outer edges of our Solar System has been shown to be the largest known comet ever, thanks to the…
A Comet Strike 13,000 Years Ago May Have Sparked Key Shift in Human Civilization
A cluster of comet fragments believed to have hit Earth nearly 13,000 years ago may have shaped the origins of human civilization, research suggests. Possibly…
“The Line Is Getting Fuzzier” – Asteroids and Comets May Be More Similar Than We Think
As anyone who has ever tried to clean a home knows, ridding yourself of dust is a Sisyphean effort. No surface stays free of it…
Potentially Hazardous 4,000 Year Comets Can Cause Meteor Showers on Earth
Researchers report that they can detect showers from the debris in the path of comets that pass close to Earth orbit and return as infrequently…
Exploring Comet Thermal History: Observing a Burnt-Out Comet Covered With Talcum Powder
The world’s first ground-based observations of the bare nucleus of a comet nearing the end of its active life revealed that the nucleus has a…
Dalian Coherent Light Source Reveals the Origin of S2 Fragments in the Interstellar Medium
Studying the creation and evolution of sulfur-containing compounds in outer space is essential for understanding interstellar chemistry. CS2 is believed to be the most important…
Mysterious Interstellar Visitor May Be the Most Pristine Comet Ever Found
New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) indicate that the rogue comet 2I/Borisov, which is only the second and most…
Comet Catalina’s Glowing Tail Indicates Comets Delivered Carbon to Rocky Planets
In early 2016, an icy visitor from the edge of our solar system hurtled past Earth. It briefly became visible to stargazers as Comet Catalina…
Wayward Comet Makes a Temporary Stop Near Jupiter’s Asteroids
Comet Comes in from the Cold and Finds an Off-Ramp on Its Sunward Journey Long road trips can be tedious and boring. That’s why many…
What Really Killed the Dinosaurs? Harvard Researchers Say It Was a Comet – And They Believe They Know Where It Came From
New theory explains possible origin of the Armageddon-causing object. It forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. The Chicxulub…
The Comet That Killed the Dinosaurs: New Theory on Origin of the Chicxulub Impactor
It was tens of miles wide and forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. The Chicxulub impactor, as it’s…
A Small, Bright Surprise: Two Views of a Sungrazing Comet
When scientists downlinked data from Parker Solar Probe’s sixth orbit, there was a small, bright surprise waiting for them: the spacecraft’s first observation of a…