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By now you've probably heard about Comet 2011/W3 (more commonly known as Lovejoy) — the audaciously bold comet that, to the surprise of many, recently survived an exceptionally close encounter with our Sun. More »
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There have been some great images and video of Comet Lovejoy's close encounter with the Sun, but this video put together by Scott Wiessinger from Goddard Spaceflight Center combines and zooms in on the best views from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which adjusted its cameras in order to watch the trajectory. More »
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The little number you see up top — titled "Chart of comets, star clusters and nebula" — was engraved in 1856 by one W. G. Evans for Burritt's Atlas to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens. More »
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Many of you have probably heard about asteroid 2005 YU55, the massive rocky body that tomorrow night will collide with Earth in a ball of flames pass the planet safely, albeit closer than any asteroid in the last 35 years. More »
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On August 12th, 1883, Mexican astronomer José Bonilla was preparing to study the Sun at the recently opened Zacatecas Observatory. However, the Sun's surface was marred by numerous objects quickly travelling across its disk. Over the course of the day and the next, Bonilla exposed several wet plates to take images of the 447 objects he would observe. They weren't released publicly until January 1st, 1886 when they were published in the magazine L'Astronomie. Since then, UFOlogists have crowed these photographs as the first photographic evidence of UFOs. The chief editor of L'Astronomie passed the observations off as migrating animals, but a new study proposes the observation was due to the breakup of a comet that nearly hit us. More »
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We have more comets at the outer edges of our solar system than we should. Find out how our sun came out the winner in an interstellar game of keep-away. More »
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This glimmering apparition is Comet McNaught, which is visiting the inner solar system and may become visible with the naked eye by the end of the month. This is the first visit to the solar system by the million-kilometer comet. More »
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We've always assumed our sun was the only star in our solar system, but maybe not. We could be in a binary system, with a brown dwarf hiding in the Oort cloud. And it could be bombing us with comets. More »
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We may have witnessed what happens after a high-speed asteroid crash for the first time ever. A mystery "comet" in the asteroid belt, P/2010 A2, is now believed to be asteroid-collision debris. The "comet"'s head includes an asteroid fragment. More »
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According to recent simulations, the idea of making a life for yourself on a planet closer to the center of the galaxy has hit a natural barrier as well as a (lack-of-way-to-get-there-and-survive) technological one: Too many comets. More »
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Score another point for exogenesis, the idea that life on Earth has extraterrestrial origins. For the first time, NASA has identified amino acids in a sample of material from a comet, suggesting a comet may have brought proteins to Earth. More »
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Critics of exogenesis note that the proper conditions to maintain life are rare in the universe, and would not likely survive the trip inside Earth's atmosphere. But new data on comets offers evidence that our ancestors were, indeed, extraterrestrial. More »
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Every summer, the Earth passes through the space wreckage left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. And you know what that means: Meteorites. Early Tuesday morning, after the moon goes down around 1:30 AM, is the best time to see the bits of junk burning up beautifully in the Earth's atmosphere. Everybody knows space explosions are romantic, so stay up late tonight with your sweetie(s) and contemplate astrophysics as you watch hunks of rocks and ice flare up and die, miles over your heads. [Space.com] Image via Marylandweather.com. More »
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While we all wait excitedly to see if the Denver alien video will sway UFO-doubting voters to vote for Jeff Peckman's ballot measure to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver, let's take a moment to remember the greatest UFO believers of all time, the members of the ill-fated Heaven's Gate religion. Sure there are more famous alien-worshiping groups like the Scientologists, and more classic space-brother-seeking types like members of the half-century-old Aetherius Society (who believe they've been contacted by members of an "Interplanetary Parliament"). But the members of Heaven's Gate had a few things none of these other religions had that made them hands-down the best. More »
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The super bright Comet McNaught loses its tail among the Southern Lights during a geomagnetic storm over New Zealand, in this photo from Minoru Yoneto. Comet-hunting requires a good telescope, a "Dobsonian reflector," and the willingness to freeze your ass off for hours. But then occasionally you get amazing photos like this one. There are tons more comet pics over at NightSkyHunter.com. [Night Sky Hunter] More »
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A planetary system seems to have survived the death of its star, judging photos released last August from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The Helix Nebula, 700 light years from Earth, is the unraveling remains of a star not unlike our sun. It's also one of the few nebulae to show any evidence of bodies that survived that disaster. More nebula pics, including one that shows battling comets that outlasted the sun's death, after the jump. More »
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