Comets

Latest about Comets

The outer solar system might be full of comets from other stars.

Interstellar comets visit our solar system more frequently than thought

By Tereza Pultarova published

Comets from other star systems, such as 2019 Borisov, visit the sun's neighborhood more frequently than scientists had thought, a new study suggests.

Comets
An artist's depiction of a meteor shower on Venus.

Venus and a newly discovered comet will cross paths in December. Will sparks fly?

By Meghan Bartels last updated

Venus is Earth's twisted twin in so many ways, what about on the skywatching front?

Comets
Images of Comet ATLAS taken on April 20 and April 23, 2020, show the comet breaking up into as many as 30 pieces.

The Comet ATLAS was a cosmic flop last year and scientists may finally know why

By Elizabeth Howell published

When scientists first spotted Comet ATLAS last year, they hoped it would be the brightest comet of the decade. Then, the icy hunk unexpectedly fell to pieces.

Comets
Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), as seen in a synthetic color composite image made with the Las Cumbres Observatory 1-meter telescope at Sutherland, South Africa, on 22 June 2021. The diffuse cloud is the comet’s coma.

Astronomers spot first activity on giant megacomet beyond Saturn

By Elizabeth Howell published

Spotting the first signs of activity on a record-setting megacomet came down to a time-zone advantage.

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
This archaeological site in Arizona in the U.S. shows evidence of an impact from a comet.

Did a comet strike 13,000 years ago change human civilization as we know it?

By Chelsea Gohd published

Could a devastating comet impact in Earth's distant past have forever changed human civilization?

Comets
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 last updated

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
The meteoroid stream of Comet Thatcher.

Scientists track meteor shower to unusual comet seen every 4,000 years

By Meghan Bartels published

Meteor showers are the dazzling result of cometary debris building up along well-worn paths through the solar system, then burning up in Earth's atmosphere as our planet crosses that dust trail.

Comets
This image of comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) was captured from ESO's SPECULOOS telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Metals found in the atmospheres of comets in and beyond our solar system surprise scientists

By Charles Q. Choi published

Metal atoms have surprisingly been discovered in the frigid atmosphere of the first known interstellar comet to visit our solar system, a new study finds.

Comets
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 last updated

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
123456789Archives