Tag Archives: comets

You may have seen claims about three comets discovered this year: C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), C/2025 R2 (SWAN), and C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), being visible in the fall skies. Yeah … about that. Unless there are significant changes in these comets, two of the three will likely not be visible without a sizable telescope. But the third holds some promise to light …

Skywatchers at Nasa have discounted a Harvard astronomer’s hypothesis that a rare interstellar object hurtling through our solar system is a relic from a civilization in another celestial neighborhood, and “could potentially be dire for humanity”. Avi Loeb, head of Harvard University’s Galileo Project, which searches for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, raised eyebrows by suggesting in a scientific paper in …

We have the means today to fly a spacecraft by an interstellar object visiting our solar system, a new study concludes — and we could have done it already with comet 3I/ATLAS. Flyby reconnaissance of interstellar objects is “feasible and affordable,” scientists with the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), who led the study, said in a statement on Wednesday (Sept. 3). …

A “devil” comet’s water is strikingly similar to the water on Earth, researchers have discovered. The finding supports the idea that water was brought to our planet through comet impacts, helping set the stage for life to evolve, the team reported Aug. 8 in the journal Nature Astronomy. “Our new results provide the strongest evidence yet that at least some …

A Japanese spacecraft is on a remarkable journey toward one of the most puzzling celestial objects in our solar system — a dark comet. These enigmatic bodies, neither fully asteroids nor classic comets, have baffled scientists with unexplained bursts of acceleration, all without the visible tails that define their icy counterparts. When the Hayabusa2 probe reaches its target, 1998 KY26, …

“Then, at some point, they split apart,” says Taylor. “That can be from spinning up fast, or getting hit. That exposes ices and makes them become dark comets.” The process would also spin such objects to high speeds, which happens to be a characteristic shared by many dark comets – they spin as fast as once every six minutes, compared …