Every few days or so I like to check the “Close Approaches” page of JPL’s Near-Earth Object Program, just to see what sorts of cosmic objects are whizzing by our planet; how big they are, when they’ll come, and how far they’ll (hopefully!) miss us by. Most of them are relatively small asteroids several dozen…
Tag: comet
Comet ISON is Keeping It Together
Despite a few previous claims of breaking up or fizzling out (which, technically, was a misquote anyway — it was ‘fizzing’ not ‘fizzling’) it appears that the incoming comet ISON is holding together just fine… although how well it does as it swings closely around the Sun in November has yet to be seen. While…
It Wasn’t a Rock, It Was a Rock COMET!
Sometimes asteroids aren’t always what they seem. Such is the case with the asteroid Phaethon, which also happens to be the source of a well-known meteor shower in December. As it turns out, Phaethon isn’t an asteroid at all — it’s a comet. But don’t think it’s as cut-and-dried as that… Phaethon isn’t the “dirty…
A Comet and the Crescent Moon
As comet Pan-STARRS heads back out into the depths of the Solar System, it’s become visible to skywatchers in the northern hemisphere (after several weeks of putting on a show in southern skies.) While poor viewing due to weather confounded some over the past few days, many people did get some great views of this…
Is This Comet SWAN’s Swan Song?
A newly-discovered comet is on its way into the Sun… can you spot it in the animation above? No? Read on…
An Orbital View Over Africa (VIDEO)
Can’t see the video below? Click here. One of the latest uploads to the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth site, this short-but-oh-so-sweet video shows the view from the Space Station as it passes over Africa, Madagascar and the southern Indian Ocean at night on December 29, 2011. Multiple lightning storms flash over Africa while…
The Tail of a Comet Amongst the Stars
Nearly a week after its last photo event, here’s a shot of Comet Lovejoy seen from the Space Station on December 27. On its way back out into the solar system after its close run-in with the Sun on December 15, Lovejoy has since sprouted a beautiful gauzy new tail which now precedes it along…
Comet Lovejoy’s Dazzling Death Dive
The end is definitely near… for comet Lovejoy, at least. The bright sungrazing comet was discovered on December 2, 2011, by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy using a ground-based telescope. It was quickly seen that the comet was on a doomsday dive toward the Sun and will not likely survive its close pass of our…
The End of Elenin
So long, Elenin, and thanks for all the conspiracy theories! The comet that has been the subject of so much unfounded fearful speculation since its discovery in December 2010 will be making its closest pass of Earth tomorrow, October 16 – and when they say closest it means 22 million miles, or almost a third…
Can Comets Cause CMEs?
First, watch this sequence: What is it? It’s an animation made from images taken by ESA’s SOHO solar observatory showing a comet diving into the Sun on October 1, and then a large CME (coronal mass ejection) erupting immediately thereafter. Now, typically science has said that there is no connection between comets impacting the Sun…
Got Questions About Comet Elenin?
NASA’s got answers. For some reason, ever since it was first discovered last December, Comet Elenin has been surrounded by a lot of misinformation regarding the danger it poses to Earth. True, it will be swinging around the Sun in a path that takes it “relatively” close to Earth and the other inner planets in…
Jupiter: Guardian of the Solar System
Can’t see the video below? Click here. Here’s a great presentation made for the NOAA and NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center about the giant planet Jupiter, part of the Science of a Sphere series. It shows the size and power of the huge gas planet and how it dominates its region of the solar system. Indeed,…
Lights in the Dark 