Comets
Water’s Epic Journey to Earth Began Before the Sun Formed
The origins of Earth's water is a complicated mystery that scientists have been untangling for decades. Life is impossible without…
We Could Spread Life to the Milky Way With Comets. But Should We?
Here's a thorny problem: What if life doesn't always appear on planets that can support it? What if we find…
Astronomers Watched a “Near-Sun” Comet Disintegrate as it Flew too Close to the Sun
Comets that venture close to the Sun can transform into something beautiful, but sometimes they encounter incineration if they get…
ESA Gives Green Light on its Comet Interceptor Mission
Comets, with their long, beautiful, bright tails of ice, are some of the most spectacular sightings in the night sky.…
Hubble Confirms Comet C/2014 UN271 is an Absolute Unit, Astronomically Speaking
It’s official. Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) has the largest nucleus ever seen in a comet. The gargantuan comet was discovered…
Asteroid Ryugu Might Actually Be a Dead Comet
In 2014, the Japanese Space Agency JAXA launched the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to visit asteroid Ryugu. It arrived at the…
The Sun is Slowly Tearing This Comet Apart
Using ground-based and space-based observations, a team of researchers has been monitoring a difficult-to-see comet carefully. It's called Comet 323P/SOHO,…
We Already Have the Technology to Save Earth From a “Don’t Look Up” Comet or Asteroid
What if a 10 km (6.5 mile)-wide asteroid was on a bee-line towards Earth, with an impending, calamitous impact just…
The Real Science Behind the Movie “Don’t Look Up”
The new movie “Don’t Look Up” -- now available on Netflix -- is not your usual sci-fi disaster film. Instead,…
This Video of Comet Leonard (with Venus and Mercury) will Blow Your Mind
Since early this year, skywatchers on Earth have been tracking Comet Leonard, a kilometer-wide dirty snowball made of ice, rock…