Comet
hideA comet is a Small Solar System Body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun, a comet exhibits a visible coma (fuzzy "atmosphere"), and sometimes a tail, both because of the effects of solar radiation upon the comet's nucleus. Comet nuclei are themselves loose collections of ice, dust and small rocky particles, ranging from a few kilometers to tens of kilometers across.
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News tagged with comet
Superior Super Earths
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 30, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (54) |
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Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes to sustaining life. They could also provide an answer to ...
Scientists say comet killed off mammoths, saber-toothed tigers
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 02, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (24) |
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First an explosion as powerful as thousands of megatons of TNT rained meteorites down on North America. Then forest fires broke out across the continent, sending up a thick layer of soot and dust that blocked ...
New Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 21, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (22) |
11
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
SOHO discovers its 1,500th comet
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jun 27, 2008 |
4.2 / 5 (21) |
0
The ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft has just discovered its 1500th comet, making it more successful than all other comet discoverers throughout history put together. Not bad for a spacecraft that was designed as a ...
First discovery of life's building block in comet made
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft.
Patagonia site of world's biggest crater field: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 08, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (18) |
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Argentina can lay claim to the world's largest crater field, a volcanic area in Patagonia known as the "Devil's Slope," according to a study released Tuesday.
What Hit Jupiter?
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 03, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (15) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- It began with a furrowed brow, a moment of puzzlement, quickly dismissed.
Space rock gives Earth a close shave
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 03, 2009 |
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An asteroid of a similar size to a rock that exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed close past Earth on Monday, astronomers said on Tuesday.
Crashing comets not likely the cause of Earth's mass extinctions: new research
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 30, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have debated how many mass extinction events in Earth's history were triggered by a space body crashing into the planet's surface. Most agree that an asteroid collision 65 million ...
New comet discovered in Canada
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 14, 2008 |
4 / 5 (12) |
5
Rob Cardinal was looking for an asteroid, but ended up finding a comet. It is the first time a comet has been discovered at the University of Calgary's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, which is located about 35 kilometres ...
Geologists point to outer space as source of the Earth's mineral riches
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 18, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (11) |
5
According to a new study by geologists at the University of Toronto and the University of Maryland, the wealth of some minerals that lie in the rock beneath the Earth's surface may be extraterrestrial in origin.
'Ultra-primitive' particles found in comet dust
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 02, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
2
Dust samples collected by high-flying aircraft in the upper atmosphere have yielded an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution. The stratospheric ...
Green Comet Approaches Earth
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 05, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
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In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he ...
Scientists Probe Green Comet
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 20, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Space scientists from the University of Leicester are keeping a close eye on a ‘green comet’ fast approaching the Earth - reaching its nearest point to us on February 24.
Jupiter had temporary moon for 12 years
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 14, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
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Comet 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu was captured as a temporary moon of Jupiter in the mid-20th century and remained trapped in an irregular orbit for about twelve years.


