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…
Comet News
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…
A Christmas Comet for Solar Orbiter: Heliospheric Imager Captures Comet Leonard
Comet Leonard, a mass of space dust, rock, and ice about a kilometer across is heading for a close pass of the Sun on 3…
Stunning Views of Comet Leonard Captured From Two Sun-Watching Spacecraft
When Comet Leonard, a mass of space dust, rock, and ice about a half-mile (1 kilometer) wide, makes its closest pass of the Sun on…
Solving a 90 Year-Old Space Mystery: Why Comets’ Heads Can Be Green, but Never Their Tails
The team solved this mystery with the help of a vacuum chamber, a lot of lasers, and one powerful cosmic reaction. Every so often, the…
How To See Comet Leonard (Before It’s Gone Forever) – According to the Researcher Who Discovered It
The brightest comet of the year, named “Leonard” after the University of Arizona researcher who discovered it, is paying one last visit to Earth’s neighborhood…
Don’t Miss: Comet Leonard May Be Visible to the Naked Eye Today
Not quite a Christmas miracle, nor the star of Bethlehem: comet Leonard is a rather typical comet going about its typical path around the Sun….
Comet A1 Leonard Brightens in December – May Be Visible With Naked Eye
Now is the time to start tracking Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard, as it starts its dawn dive sunward. The days following New Year’s 2021 saw…
Astronomers Discover Largest-Known Comet Was Active at Near-Record Distance
University of Maryland astronomers discovered that comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is among the most distant active comets from the sun, providing key information about its composition. The…
New Method Developed To Study Ions Around Comets in Space
Sofia Bergman, Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) and Umeå University, defended her doctoral thesis on low-energy ions around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 26, 2021….
Ancient Exploding Comet Likely Source of Vast Glassy Rock Patches in Chilean Desert
Heat from a comet exploding just above the ground fused the sandy soil into patches of glass stretching 75 kilometers, a study led by Brown…
Mega-Comet Will Get As Close as Saturn in 2031
A mega-comet – potentially the largest ever discovered – is heading from the Oort Cloud towards our direction. Estimated to be 100–200 kilometers across, the…
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…
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…
