Comets Archives

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021 by Nancy Atkinson

Earth Gains 5,200 Tons of Dust From Space Every Year

Electron micrograph of a Concordia micrometeorite extracted from Antarctic snow at Dome C. Credit and copyright: Cécile Engrand/Jean Duprat.

Whenever I wipe the dust off my coffee table or catch a glimpse of dust motes floating in sunlight, my spacey mind always wonders, is any of that cosmic dust?

It just might be. But the amount of space dust that lands on our planet every year might surprise you.

March 12, 2021March 9, 2021 by Paul M. Sutter

Comets Already Grow a Coma out in the Kuiper Belt

NAVCAM image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko acquired on Nov. 22, 2015.

Just when do comets get their signature coma? Conventional wisdom says it only happens when they get close enough to the sun, but new research suggests it starts when they are still beyond the orbit of the planets.

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021 by Nancy Atkinson

Jupiter has Added a Comet to its Trojan Collection

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this image of the young comet P/2019 LD2 as it orbits near Jupiter's captured ancient asteroids, which are called Trojans. This icy object is the first comet astronomers have spotted near the Trojan population. CREDITS: NASA, ESA, STScI, B. Bolin (IPAC/Caltech)

Jupiter is notorious for capturing objects that venture too close to the gas giant and its enormous pull of gravity. Asteroids known as Jupiter Trojans are a large group of space rocks that have been snared by the planet, which usually remain in a stable orbit near one of the Jupiter’s Lagrangian points.

But now, the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a comet near Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid population. This is the first time a comet has been found in this region, and the team of scientists studying the object – named P/2019 LD2 (LD2) – think the unexpected comet is only a temporary visitor.

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Evan Gough

Did a Comet Wipe out the Dinosaurs?

Artist's rendering of a comet headed towards Earth. Public domain illustration.

About 66 million years ago a massive chunk of rock slammed into Earth in what is the modern-day Yucatan Peninsula. The impact extinguished about 75% of all life on Earth. Most famously, it was the event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

While mainstream scientific thought has pointed to an asteroid as the impactor, a new research letter says it could’ve, in fact, been a comet.

December 11, 2020December 11, 2020 by Evan Gough

Comet Records From 1240 Accurately Date When a Byzantine Princess Died

This unprocessed image from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows comet NEOWISE on July 5, 2020, shortly after its closest approach to the Sun. Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Lab/Parker Solar Probe/Brendan Gallagher

Rome was the world’s first mega-empire. At its height it stretched from Western Europe to the Middle East, and over 50 million souls lived within its borders. Some historians think that number could’ve been way higher, up to 100 million.

Rome got its start in the mid-8th century BC. It took centuries for that small city to grow into the Roman Empire, which reached its peak around AD 100. A well-known cliche reminds us how long that took.

But the Roman Empire also took centuries to fracture and dissolve.

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 by Evan Gough

Solid Phosphorus has been Found in Comets. This Means They Contain All the Raw Elements for Life

Data from Southwest Research Institute-led instruments aboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft helped reveal unique ultraviolet auroral emissions around irregularly shaped Comet 67P. Although these auroras are outside the visible spectra, other auroras have been seen at various planets and moons in our solar system and even around a distant star. Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Did comets deliver the elements essential for life on Earth? It’s looking more and more like they could have. At least one comet might have, anyway: 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

A new study using data from the ESA’s Rosetta mission shows that the comet contains the life-critical element phosphorous.

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020 by Evan Gough

One of the Building Blocks of Life Can Form in the Harsh Environment of Deep Space Itself. No Star Required

A new study from the University of Edinburgh suggests that life could be distributed throughout the cosmos by interstellar dust. Credit: ESO/R. Fosbury (ST-ECF)

In many ways, stars are the engines of creation. Their energy drives a whole host of processes necessary for life. Scientists thought that stellar radiation is needed to create compounds like the amino acid glycine, one of the building blocks of life.

But a new study has found that glycine detected in comets formed in deep interstellar space when there was no stellar energy.

September 24, 2020September 24, 2020 by Evan Gough

Even Comets Can Have Auroras. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Does

The ESA’s Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ended four years ago. On September 30th 2016 the spacecraft was directed into a controlled impact with the comet, putting an end to its 12.5 year mission. Scientists are still working with all its data and making new discoveries.

A new study based on Rosetta data shows that Comet 67P has its own aurora.

September 9, 2020September 9, 2020 by Evan Gough

Rosetta’s Philae Lander Was Alive on the Surface of 67P for 63 Hours, Trying to Communicate

Photo of Comet 67P/C-G taken by Rosetta on August 6, 2014. Credit: ESA

In August 2014, the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft arrived at its destination, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after a 10 year journey. Rosetta carried a small companion, the Philae Lander. On November 12th, Philae was sent to the surface of Comet 67P. Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as planned, and the lander’s mission lasted only 63 hours.

During that time, it gathered what data it could. But mission scientists weren’t certain of its precise location, meaning its data was difficult to interpret accurately. Only when scientists knew precisely where Philae was located on the comet, could they make best use of all of its data.

August 27, 2020August 27, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Comet NEOWISE Was Spiraling and Spinning as it Passed by Earth

The rotation of Comet NEOWISE is revealed in eight images captured over one-and-a-half hours on 1 August by the Gemini North telescope using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph. In the compressed time-lapse sequence below, the images are looped nine times. Image: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Drahus/P. Guzik

Earlier this week, we shared an image of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. And now, here are a group of images from the 8.1-metre Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. Like Hubble, Gemini North focused in on the comet’s nucleus and coma, instead of its stunning, gossamer tails. But Gemini zoomed in and caught something Hubble didn’t: Comet NEOWISE was rotating, which created a spiraling stream of molecular gas.