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Comet

All articles tagged with #comet

space12 days ago•157 min saved

Namibia's night sky lights up with green comet 220P/McNaught

Astronomers captured a bright green comet, 220P/McNaught, streaking over Namibia on Aug. 8, 2026. Discovered by Robert H. McNaught, the comet orbits the Sun every 5.5 years and underwent a dramatic outburst around perihelion in June, brightening thousands of times. It brightened again in August to roughly 600 times its usual brightness, enabling photographers Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger to photograph it with a 12-inch astrograph and a ZWO ASI 6200 MM Pro camera. Space.com named it the Space Photo of the Day for Aug. 12, 2026, noting the sight as part of the ongoing Perseids meteor shower.

via Space|

#astronomy #comet #namibia

space1 month ago•3 min saved

28-Year Identity Swap: 1998 SH2 Is a Comet, Not an Asteroid

A near-Earth object long tracked as a possible asteroid (1998 SH2) was shown to be a comet after nongravitational forces from outgassing altered its path; subsequent observations with large telescopes detected a faint tail, and the object was redesignated as P/1998 SH2, highlighting the existence of dark comets and the importance of continuous tracking for planetary defense.

via Gizmodo|

#1998-sh2 #asteroid #comet

science1 month ago•4 min saved

Ancient interstellar traveler: 3I/ATLAS likely formed around an ancient star

Scientists using the VLT measured carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios in cyanide around interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS and conclude it formed in the outer regions of an old, low-metallicity star system—likely much older than the Sun—making it one of the Galaxy’s oldest known objects; future observations with the ELT will study more interstellar visitors.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#3iatlas #comet #interstellar

space1 month ago•13 min saved

Jupiter’s 1994 Comet Shower: A Turning Point for Space Observation and Defense

In July 1994, 21 fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter over six days, marking the first direct observation of a collision between solar-system bodies. Triggered by Brian Marsden’s 1993 orbital prediction, a coordinated global observing effort captured unprecedented data (Hubble, Galileo, Ulysses, Voyager 2) and revealed an enormous energy release (about 40 million megatons total; fragment G ~6 million megatons) that left a 12,000-km scar. The event reshaped space policy, leading to NASA’s Spaceguard Survey in 1998 to catalog near-Earth asteroids and informing modern planetary-defense efforts such as the 2022 DART mission; it also cemented Eugene Shoemaker’s legacy in lunar exploration.

via Space Daily|

#comet #jupiter #planetary-defense

science1 month ago•13 min saved

Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS: A Star-Borne Comet Tracks Through Our Solar System

In July 2025, the ATLAS sky survey in Chile detected a faint, fast-moving object with a hyperbolic (unbound) orbit, later identified as 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object. Traveling about 130,000 mph, it was not a threat to Earth, with a close approach well outside the Moon’s orbit. Hubble and other facilities observed a dust plume and activity consistent with a comet, constraining the nucleus size and confirming a cometary nature. The discovery shows interstellar visitors are real and detectable with modern surveys, enabling comparative studies of material from other star systems.

via Space Daily|

#3iatlas #atlas-survey #comet

science2 months ago•39 min saved

Ancient interstellar visitor hints at origins predating the Solar System

Astronomers analyzing the interstellar comet suggest it formed long before the Sun, likely in another star system before being ejected into interstellar space, implying its material is much older than the Solar System and offering clues about planetary formation elsewhere.

via Yahoo|

#astronomy #comet #interstellar

space2 months ago•11 min saved

Ancient Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS Carries CO2-Rich Coma Through Our Solar System

3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed interstellar visitor to our solar system, on a hyperbolic trajectory that brought it to about 1.4 AU from the Sun in Oct 2025 and a close Earth approach in Dec 2025; Webb’s near-infrared spectra reveal a carbon dioxide–rich coma—with CO2 outweighing water by about eight to one—along with other volatiles, suggesting a nucleus intrinsically rich in CO2 and an origin well before the Sun. Isotopic and motion analyses hint at a formation roughly 10–12 billion years ago, making it possibly older than the Sun; SETI searches found no technosignatures, and the object is now outbound and fading. The event foreshadows more interstellar visitors detectable by future surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

via Space Daily|

#3iatlas #comet #interstellar-object

space2 months ago•1 min saved

Astronomer Alan Hale, Hale-Bopp Co-Discoverer, Dies

Astronomer Alan Hale, co-discoverer of Hale-Bopp, has died (June 6, 2026). His work helped make one of the most observed comets of the 20th century a global spectacle, visible to the naked eye for about 18 months after its 1997 perihelion; tributes from friend Leonard David and Hale’s wife Vickie reflect a life spent looking up at the skies.

via Inside Outer Space|

#astronomy #comet #hale-bopp

science3 months ago•13 min saved

The Tunguska Mystery: The 1908 Airburst That Flattened a Forest Without a Crater

In 1908 a space object exploded over Siberia in an airburst, releasing roughly 10–15 megatons of energy and flattening about 80 million trees across 830 square miles, with no crater and a ring of standing trees at the center. Scientists still debate whether it was a stony asteroid or a comet; the asteroid answer fits the ground damage while the comet explanation could account for the eerie skyglow seen across Europe. No fragment has ever been found, and the event helped spur modern planetary defense efforts, including NASA’s DART mission.

via Space Daily|

#airburst #asteroid #comet

space3 months ago•34 min saved

Distant Solar System Visitor Illuminates Our Origins

Astronomers say comet C/2025 R3 PANSTARRS — a long-period visitor likely from the Oort Cloud — has been visible in the northern hemisphere for weeks, offering a rare glimpse at material from the solar system's birth. With such comets taking extremely elongated orbits, this one may not return for around 170,000 years, making its current pass a unique opportunity to study early solar-system building blocks and clues about how planets formed, as gravitational interactions could eventually eject it from the system.

via Yahoo|

#astronomy #comet #oort-cloud

stargazing3 months ago•51 min saved

PanSTARRS Flaunts Dual Tails During Close Earth Approach

Space.com reports that Comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS displayed its ion tail as it passed about 45 million miles (72 million km) from Earth, with a dust tail lagging behind. The comet heated as it neared the Sun (perihelion on April 19) and then reached its closest approach to Earth around April 26, with SOHO imagery capturing the ion tail brightening and pointing away from the Sun.

via Space|

#comet #ion-tail #panstarrs

space4 months ago•5 min saved

Comet PanSTARRS Slides Past Earth in a Real-Time Sky Show

A brightening Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) will skim about 45 million miles past Earth, its closest approach on April 26, after surviving perihelion on April 19. The comet is visible in space-based imagery and can be tracked in near real time via the SOHO LASCO instrument and NOAA data feeds; it poses no threat and will fade as it moves away. Under dark southern skies it may be glimpsed with naked-eye, while binoculars reveal more detail as it traverses the solar-ward field.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#comet #lasco #nasa

science4 months ago•3 min saved

3I/ATLAS Traces Ultra-Cold Origins of an Interstellar Comet

Astronomers using the ALMA Observatory found that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS contains unusually high deuterium in its water, implying it formed in a very cold, loner star-forming region long before the Sun. The object could be the oldest known interstellar visitor (up to about 11 billion years old); its nucleus is estimated to range from a quarter-mile to 3.5 miles (440 meters to 5.6 kilometers) across, and it is speeding away from the Sun at roughly 137,000 mph. The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, add context to other interstellar visitors like Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.

via ScienceAlert|

#3iatlas #alma #comet

space4 months ago•74 min saved

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed in a Frigid Milky Way Region

ALMA measurements of deuterated water in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS show it formed in a far colder, chemically distinct region of the Milky Way than the solar system, with deuterated-water content about 30 times higher than solar-system comets and roughly 40 times Earth's oceans.

via Space|

#3iatlas #alma #comet

science4 months ago•3 min saved

Dawn Glimpse: Rare PanSTARRS Comet Lights Up Connecticut Sky

Connecticut observers may catch a glimpse of the rare PanSTARRS comet (C/2025 R3) before sunrise this month, best with binoculars as it sits low in the eastern sky; visibility depends on clear skies and timing, with perihelion approaching and the next two mornings offering the best chances.

via Patch|

#astronomy #comet #connecticut