comets

Latest about comets

This artist's illustration shows the distant Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein as it might look in the outer Solar System. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is estimated to be about 1000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it arguably the largest comet discovered in modern times. It has an extremely elongated orbit, journeying inward from the distant Oort Cloud over millions of years. It is the most distant comet to be discovered on its incoming path.

Newly found mega comet may be the largest seen in recorded history

By Elizabeth Howell published

A giant comet found far out in the solar system may be 1,000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it potentially the largest ever found in modern times.

Comets
Dust Particles, Sparkles and Light Rays over Black Background.

5,200 tons of extraterrestrial dust fall on Earth each year

By Stephanie Pappas published

Each year, 5,200 tons of space dust fall to Earth, far outweighing larger meteorites that hit the planet.

Planet Earth
An artist's impression of what the surface of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov might look like.

Interstellar interloper 2I/Borisov may be the most pristine comet ever observed

By Charles Q. Choi published

The first known interstellar comet to visit our solar system may be the most pristine ever found, never passing near a star until visiting our own, researchers say.

Comets
Artist's rendering of a comet headed toward Earth.

Dinosaur-killing space rock may have originated at the edge of the solar system

By Stephanie Pappas published

The chunk of space rock that killed the nonavian dinosaurs may have been a piece of a comet that Jupiter's gravity kicked onto a collision course with Earth.

Dinosaurs
This series of images of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was captured by the Rosetta spacecraft's OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Aug. 12, 2015, a few hours before the comet reached perihelion, or the closest point to the sun along its 6.5-year orbit.

The 'rubber ducky' comet is glowing

By Rafi Letzter published

The rubber ducky comet is glowing, but you can't see it. New analysis of data from the Rosetta probe shows an ultraviolet aurora all around the speeding object.

Comets
Orbiting Stars Eclipse Space

The sun may have a long-lost twin

By Rafi Letzter published

There's a strange sphere of mass at the outer reaches of solar space. Did another star help put it there?

The Sun
An artist's depiction of the first identified interstellar object, 'Oumuamua.

Interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua could still be alien technology, new study hints

By Rafi Letzter published

The idea that interstellar object 'Oumuamua is a hydrogen iceberg has a flaw.

Extraterrestrial Life
On July 18, 2020, astrophotographer Evan Zucker and his wife, Paula, drove three hours to the Mojave Desert north of Desert Center, California, to see Comet NEOWISE. "The comet itself was an very obvious naked eye object, even all the way down to the horizon, but the ion tail was a challenge to perceive naked eye," Zucker said. They used a Sony a7iii camera with a Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM lens, set to f/1.4 and ISO 800, mounted on a 6-in. Celestron telescope to provide tracking. The single 13-second exposure was processed in Adobe Lightroom and Topaz AI De-Noise.

The curtain is about to come down on Comet NEOWISE

By Joe Rao published

The brightest comet to appear in Northern Hemisphere skies in nearly a quarter of a century will soon be ending its run as a naked-eye object.

Comets
Comet NEOWISE, as photographed by Joy Ng, a multimedia producer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Comet NEOWISE: 10 big questions (and answers) about the icy wanderer

By Chelsea Gohd published

Comet NEOWISE has returned to the skies and is delighting skywatchers. So what makes this comet so special?

Comets
Processed data from the WISPR instrument on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows great detail in the twin tails of Comet NEOWISE, as seen on July 5, 2020. The lower, broader tail is the comet’s dust tail, while the thinner, upper tail is the comet’s ion tail.

Dazzling Comet NEOWISE could be an astronomical bonanza

By Mike Wall published

Astronomers are buzzing about Comet NEOWISE, which observers under clear, dark skies in the Northern Hemisphere can currently see with the naked eye.

Comets
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