Comets News

Caroline Herschel began her life in astronomy supporting the work of her amateur astronomer brother William. She was working with him when he discovered Uranus.

Paris - Planet Earth could be at higher risk of a space rock impact than widely thought, according to astronomers who suggested Tuesday keeping a closer eye on distant giant comets.

Dark matter could be the cause of mass extinctions, according to scientists who have analyzed the movement of the Earth through the region called the galactic disc.

No, its not a new sequel to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, its a serious possibility and the successful landing of the Philae probe could be a first step towards it. In fact, NASA has already funded research to look into its feasibility.

Paris - Such has been the huge advances in the field of space telescopes in recent years that astronomers are now turning their attention to comets in orbit around stars other than our Sun.

Paris - The European Space Agency’s (ESA) comet-chaser mission, already 10 years in transit, has rendezvoused with its target the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet. The ESA Rosetta probe enters orbit around the comet today, Wednesday.

Peterborough - From Ontario to New York State, last Sunday, many people reported seeing a possible meteor streaking across the sky before exploding in a blinding fireball near Toronto.

Cambridge - Earth coming under bombardment by comets could be a regular astronomical event, suggest two Harvard University researchers in a recently published research paper.

Kailua - Following the disappointment of Comet ISON, whose icy consistency melted away after its 730,000-mile brush with the sun, sky-watchers have the chance to catch a glimpse of Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1) as it makes its solar approach.

It's been described as looking like a "rotating lawn sprinkler" and "definitely freakish," but there's one thing NASA scientists agree on concerning a newly-discovered asteroid — they're not quite sure how it exists.

Leuven - About 25 light-years away, there is a relatively youthful star named Fomalhaut that is twice the size of our sun and projects a ring of dust around it. Scientists have concluded that the dusty disc is formed by thousands of comet collisions each day.

When we look up at a comet in the night sky, it may be a 'stolen pleasure: we may be looking at something that comes originally from a distant star.

The Deep Impact spacecraft has beamed down the first of more than 64,000 images it is expected to take of Comet Hartley 2. The spacecraft will fly by the comet in two months, on Nov. 4, 2010.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) captured magnificent cosmic activities such as the wispy comet, a bursting star-forming cloud, Andromeda galaxy and a faraway cluster of hundreds of galaxies.

The Global Catastrophic Risks conference started yesterday morning and death by asteroids, comets and gamma ray bursts was on the agenda as experts discussed the statistical likelihood of these types of global catastrophes.