Comets
The Biggest Comet Ever Seen 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…
A Newly-Discovered (Almost) Dwarf Planet Will Come Surprisingly Close in 2031
It’s good to remember how little we know about the outer solar system. Humans only really began observing it within…
Comets Have Tails of gas, Dust… and Metal?
In outer space, an object’s location has a huge impact on its temperature. The closer the object is to its…
Extrasolar Object Interceptor Would be Able to Chase Down the Next Oumuamua or Borisov and Actually Return a Sample
What if we had the ability to chase down interstellar objects passing through our Solar System, like Oumuamua or Comet…
A Comet Seen at the end of its Life. It’s covered in talcum powder
Astronomers finally managed to observe a comet nearing the end of its life. And they found that it's covered in…
Earth Gains 5,200 Tons of Dust From Space Every Year
Whenever I wipe the dust off my coffee table or catch a glimpse of dust motes floating in sunlight, my…
Comets Already Grow a Coma out in the Kuiper Belt
Just when do comets get their signature coma? Conventional wisdom says it only happens when they get close enough to…
Jupiter has Added a Comet to its Trojan Collection
Jupiter is notorious for capturing objects that venture too close to the gas giant and its enormous pull of gravity.…
Did a Comet Wipe out the Dinosaurs?
About 66 million years ago a massive chunk of rock slammed into Earth in what is the modern-day Yucatan Peninsula.…
Comet Records From 1240 Accurately Date When a Byzantine Princess Died
Rome was the world's first mega-empire. At its height it stretched from Western Europe to the Middle East, and over…