Unexpected New Quest for Astronomers After Webb’s Mysterious Find in Rare Main Belt Comet
The James Webb Space Telescope’s latest discovery is a tale of two detections. Solar system scientists took NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on a treasure…
Comet News
Sodium Surprise: Asteroid’s Comet-Like Tail Is Not Made of Dust
Scientists discovered that asteroid Phaethon, the source of the Geminid meteor shower, has a tail made of sodium, not dust. This finding challenges 14 years…
Catch a Falling Star: Don’t Miss Lyrid Meteor Shower Peak
The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 23 with up to 15 meteors per hour. The shower is one of the oldest in history, with…
Cracking the ’Oumuamua Code: Alien Spaceship or Natural Phenomenon?
2017 comet’s unusual acceleration explained by hydrogen outgassing from ice. In 2017, a mysterious comet dubbed ‘Oumuamua fired the imaginations of scientists and the public…
Comet Collisions Could Seed Europa’s Ocean With Building Blocks of Life
Comet strikes on Jupiter’s moon Europa could help transport critical ingredients for life found on the moon’s surface to its hidden ocean of liquid water…
Infographic: Anatomy of a Comet
Comets are cosmic snowballs, the frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of frozen gases, dust, and rock. They range in size…
ESA’s Comet Interceptor Approved for Construction
In 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA) selected Comet Interceptor as a new fast-class (F-class) mission. These missions, where “fast” refers to development speed, are…
Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Comet
What Is a Comet? A comet is an icy, rocky mass that has passed close by the Sun within our Solar System, and has thus…
30 Exocomets Discovered in a Young Planetary System
For the past thirty years, astronomers have been fascinated with the star ß Pictoris because it allows them to observe a young planetary system in…
Don’t Miss: Full Pink Moon, a Comet, a Meteor Shower, and Other Celestial Events
The next full moon is the Pink Moon, the Sprouting Grass, Egg, or Fish Moon; the Pesach, Passover, or Paschal Moon; the Hanuman Jayanti Festival…
Hubble Confirms Largest Comet Nucleus Ever Seen – A Staggering 500 Trillion Tons Headed This Way
4-Billion-Year-Old Relic From The Early Solar System Is Headed This Way Denizens of deep space, comets are among the oldest objects in the solar system….
Distant Long-Period Comets Quickly Fade Away
As comets approach the Sun, they release gas and dust known to astronomers as cometary activity. For comets passing near or inside Earth’s orbit, this…
Unprecedented Opportunity To Investigate the Next Interstellar Visitor With the Webb Space Telescope
Scientists will learn about objects trespassing on our cosmic turf So far, only two interstellar objects have been spotted buzzing through our solar system, but…
Comet’s Devastating Explosion Over North America 1,500 Years Ago Caused Extensive Destruction
Did comet’s fiery destruction lead to downfall of ancient Hopewell? Researchers at the University of Cincinnati find evidence of cosmic cataclysm 1,500 years ago at…
Why Are Comet Heads Green – But Not Their Tails? Accidental Discovery Leads to Solution of 90-Year-Old Puzzle
An accidental discovery and a love of spectroscopic perturbations leads to the solution of a 90-year-old puzzle. In a global collaboration, a team of researchers…
We Already Have the Technology to Save Earth From a “Don’t Look Up” Asteroid
What if a 10 km (6.5 mile)-wide asteroid was on a bee-line towards Earth, with an impending, calamitous impact just six months away? This was…
Solar Orbiter Spacecraft Catches a Second Comet by the Tail
For the second time in its mission so far, the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has flown through the tail of a comet. Predicted in advance…
We Asked a NASA Scientist: What’s the Difference Between Asteroids, Comets and Meteors? [Video]
What’s the difference between asteroids, comets and meteors? These space rocks each have their own unique attributes. But differences aside, these fascinating objects are all…
