comets

Interstellar comets are more common than thought 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 24, 2021
“We’re finding that there could be substantially more visitors,” say Harvard scientists

By David Aragorn
Doomed comet ATLAS had a long history with Earth 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 24, 2021
Source: CNN A Comet that intrigued astronomers with its first appearance in our sky at the very end of 2019, but it disintegrated into 30 tiny ice shards months later. Now, observations made while the comet, named ATLAS, was still intact have shed light on the comet’s “family,” which stretches back thousands of years. Comet

By David Aragorn
Largest known comet is heading close enough to us to become visible 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 27, 2021
Astronomers have discovered the largest known comet, and it’s about a thousand times more massive than others.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers Detect Unusual Amount of Methanol in Comet 46P/Wirtanen 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 13, 2021
Using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) instrument at the Keck II telescope, astronomers conducted near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the hyperactive Jupiter-family comet 46P/Wirtanen during its long-anticipated close flyby to Earth in December 2018.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers Detect Nickel in Coma of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- May 20, 2021
Using spectroscopic observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope, a duo of astronomers from Poland has detected atomic nickel vapor in the cold coma of 2I/Borisov, an interstellar comet discovered on August 30, 2019 by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov.

By David Aragorn
Earth’s Second Known Minimoon is Natural Object, Astronomers Say 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 27, 2020
In a new paper published in the Astronomical Journal, astronomers from the United States, Canada and Europe provide a detailed characterization of the physical properties and orbital evolution of the asteroid 2020 CD3 — Earth’s second discovered temporary natural satellite, or minimoon. Their results prove that 2020 CD3 is a natural body and not some relic piece of human-made space junk.

By David Aragorn
A Rare Hybrid of a Comet And an Asteroid Is Showing Off Its Cometary Traits 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 3, 2020
Centaurs are rare celestial objects that can combine some of the different features of asteroids and comets. They’re basically rocky in nature, like asteroids, but can also throw out clouds of dust and gas as their exteriors vaporize, like comets.

By David Aragorn
Comet discovered to have its own northern lights 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 22, 2020
An atmospheric light show previously relegated to planets and Jupiter moons is found on comet using data from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft

By David Aragorn
Hubble snaps close-up of celebrity comet NEOWISE 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 22, 2020
NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of comet NEOWISE, taken on Aug. 8, zero in on the visitor’s coma, the gossamer shell of gas and dust that surrounds its nucleus as it is heated by the Sun. This is the first time Hubble has photographed a comet of this brightness at such resolution after this close of a pass by the Sun.

By David Aragorn
In a first, astronomers spotted a space rock turning into a comet 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 21, 2020
The process won’t be complete until 2063

By David Aragorn