TOPICSComets

Comets

Comet 67P
Space

Water on comet has a similar molecular signature to the water in Earth’s oceans

Amit Malewar

This finding reopens the case that Jupiter-family comets.

Aesthetic planet galaxy background
Space

New equation to track Earth-bound asteroids more precisely

Pranjal Malewar

Identifying asteroids on a potential collision course with Earth could be made easier.

planetary material escaping
Space

Venus’s atmosphere emits Oxygen and Carbon

Amit Malewar

Surprising insights into how gases are stripped away from the upper layers of the planet’s atmosphere.

meteoroid broke up by thermal stresses
Space

Heat to blame for Space Pebble’s demise

Amit Malewar

Why do pebbles pulverize after they leave the comet?

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks
Space

A cryovolcanic comet just experienced its biggest outburst yet

Amit Malewar

Major cryovolcanic outburst.

Artist’s concept of Comet 238P/Read
Space

Webb finds water, and a new mystery, in rare main belt comet

Editorial Team

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has enabled another long-sought scientific breakthrough, this time for Solar System scientists studying the origins of the water...

asteroid Phaethon being heated by the Sun
Space

Asteroid’s comet-like tail is not made of dust

Amit Malewar

A weird asteroid has just gotten a little weirder.

Molecular cloud ices
Space

Darkest ever view of a dense interstellar cloud

Amit Malewar

The observations have revealed the composition of a virtual treasure chest of ices from the early universe.

Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs
Space

Comet K2 was shining bright during its closest approach to Earth

Amit Malewar

Perfect timing for a conjunction with a star cluster.

Artist's impression of exocomets orbiting the star β Pictoris.
Space

Discovery of 30 exocomets in a young planetary system

Amit Malewar

First-ever system detected outside our Solar System.

Comet C/2014 UN271
Space

A 4 billion-year-old enormous comet is heading our way

Amit Malewar

The comet is more than twice the width of Rhode Island.

Comet C/2014 B1
Space

Distant long-period comets quickly fade away, study

Amit Malewar

Comet properties substantially evolve at solar distances much larger than previously considered.

Comet Leonard
Space

Comet Leonard has disintegrated into pieces as it rounds the Sun

Amit Malewar

The remnants of Comet are presently in the morning sky as seen from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere.

Dicarbon
Space

Scientists solved the mystery of comet’s green shade

Amit Malewar

The team solved this mystery with the help of a vacuum chamber, many lasers, and one powerful cosmic reaction.

Illustration of Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein
Space

A giant comet is heading toward the solar system

Amit Malewar

It is the most distant comet to be discovered on its incoming path.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein
Space

Giant comet found in the outer solar system

Amit Malewar

Estimated to be 100–200 kilometers across, the unusual wandering body will make its closest approach to the Sun in 2031.

The detection of the heavy metals iron and nickel
Space

Iron and Nickel found in the atmospheres of comets throughout our Solar System

Amit Malewar

A new study by a Belgian team using data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) has shown that iron and...

This image shows an artist’s impression of what the surface of the 2I/Borisov comet might look like.
Space

Most recently detected rogue comet may be the most pristine ever found

Amit Malewar

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...

comet-C2020-X3
Space

A comet discovered during 2020 Total Solar Eclipse

Amit Malewar

As Chile and Argentina witnessed the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, unbeknownst to skywatchers, a little tiny speck was flying past the...

Hubble Captures Comet NEOWISE
Space

Hubble Snaps Close-Up of Comet NEOWISE

Editorial Team

The sharpest view yet of the breakup of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS).

Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system. These two images, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, capture the comet appearing near a background galaxy (left) and soon after its closest approach to the Sun (right). Credits: NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
Space

Swift tracks water loss from an interstellar comet 2I/Borisov

Amit Malewar

2I/Borisov is the first observed interstellar comet, and the second observed interstellar interloper after ʻOumuamua'. It has 14 times the size of Earth with...

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with the sharpest view yet of the breakup of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). The telescope resolved roughly 30 fragments of the comet on 20 April and 25 pieces on 23 April. Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (UCLA), Q. Ye (University of Maryland)
Space

Hubble captured the sharpest view of the breakup of comet ATLAS

Editorial Team

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with the sharpest view yet of the breakup of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). The telescope resolved...

Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object known to have passed through our Solar System. In this image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the comet appears in front of a distant background spiral galaxy. The galaxy’s bright central core is smeared in the image because Hubble was tracking the comet. Borisov was approximately 326 million kilometres from Earth in this exposure. Its tail of ejected dust streaks off to the upper right.
Technology

The fastest comets ever striking through our solar system

Editorial Team

Hubble Watches Interstellar Comet Borisov Speed Past the Sun

Left: A new image of the interstellar comet 2l/Borisov. Right: A composite image of the comet with a photo of the Earth to show scale. (Pieter van Dokkum, Cheng-Han Hsieh, Shany Danieli, Gregory Laughlin)
Space

Yale astronomers captured a close-up image of an interstellar comet

Amit Malewar

The comet will make its closest approach to the Sun at just over 2 AU on 8 December 2019.

On 12 October 2019, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed Comet 2I/Borisov at a distance of approximately 420 million kilometres from Earth. The comet is believed to have arrived here from another planetary system elsewhere in our galaxy.
Space

Hubble Observes New Interstellar Visitor

Editorial Team

On 12 October 2019, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provided astronomers with their best look yet at an interstellar visitor — Comet 2I/Borisov —...

Konstantinos P. Giapis with his reactor that converts carbon dioxide to molecular oxygen. Credit: California Institute of Technology
Space

Comet inspires chemistry for making breathable oxygen on Mars

Editorial Team

Although plentiful in modern Earth’s atmosphere, molecular oxygen is extremely rare in space. Only trace amounts have been found elsewhere in our solar system...

The mystery of how comets are able to emit X-rays has been solved by a team led by the University of Oxford. Image credit: Shutterstock
Science

Scientists finally solved mystery of why comets emit X-rays

Amit Malewar

When comets travel through the Solar System they interact with Solar radiation, the Solar wind, and the Solar magnetic field. This produces an obvious climate...

ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star
Space

ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star

Amit Malewar

Alma observatory in Chile has recently discovered cold dust around the closest star, Proxima Centauri to the Solar System. It suggests that the glow coming...

Astronomers Discover Traces of Methyl Chloride around Infant Stars and Nearby Comet
Space

Astronomers Discover Traces of Methyl Chloride around Infant Stars and Nearby Comet

Amit Malewar

Astronomers recently discovered the faint molecular fingerprint of methyl chloride around an infant star system known as IRAS 16293-2422. The discovery was done by using Atacama...

This illustration shows how scientists used data from NASA's WISE spacecraft to determine the nucleus sizes of comets. They subtracted a model of how dust and gas behave in comets in order to obtain the core size. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Space

Scientists Found Seven Times More Massive Comets in Our Solar System

Amit Malewar

A team led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has recently found more large comets in our Solar System. Scientists describe them as massive icy wanderers. Scientists...

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