Comets

Herschel Space Observatory Discovers Clues To Where Earths Ocean Water Came From

October 6, 2011

New measurements from the Herschel Space Observatory have discovered water with the same chemical signature as our oceans in a comet called Hartley 2 (pictured at right). Previously, astronomers thought icy comets impacting on a young Earth had deposited only about 10 percent of the water comprising our oceans. The new findings, however, suggest that comets played a much bigger role. The image of comet Harley 2 at top right was taken by NASA's EPOXI mission. The image at bottom right is an artist's concept of a comet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Using the Herschel Space Observatory astronomers have found source for the same type of water that appeared in Earth’s oceans billions of years ago. Measurements of comet Hartley 2 show it contains water with the same chemical signature as Earth’s oceans. Comet Hartley 2 comes from the Kuiper Belt a distance 30 to 50 times as far away as the Earth is from the Sun. The Kuiper Belt is home to icy, rocky bodies including Pluto, other dwarf planets and innumerable comets. “Our results with Herschel suggest that comets could have played a major role in bringing vast amounts...

Comet Elenin Poses No Threat To Earth!

August 18, 2011

By Michael Muracco

Comet Elenin as seen by NASA's STEREO spacecraft on Aug. 6.

The comet Elenin is passing through the inner solar system right now and will make its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 16. The comet has sparked an Internet firestorm among believers who claim its approach is linked to Earth’s destruction, a rogue “planet” called Nibiru and a NASA conspiracy to cover it all up. Now NASA is stressing the simple truth: Comet Elenin is just an icy comet — and a wimpy one at that — which poses no threat to our planet. Take, for example, Elenin’s “close” approach to Earth. That closest point is still out in...

NASA’s SOHO Observatory Captures Comet Hitting The Sun

May 21, 2011

By Michael Muracco

SOHO (NASA-ESA Solar & Heliospheric Observatory) watched as a fairly bright comet dove towards the Sun in a white streak on May 10, 2011. The comet, probably part of the Kreutz family of comets, was discovered by amateur astronomer Sergey Shurpakov. In this coronagraph the Sun (represented by a white circle) is blocked by the red occulting disk so that the faint structures in the Sun’s corona can be discerned. Interestingly, a coronal mass ejection blasted out to the right just as the comet is approaching the Sun. Scientists, however, have yet to find a convincing physical connection between...

NASA’s Stardust Spacecraft Set For A Valentine’s Day encounter with comet Tempel 1

February 12, 2011

By Michael Muracco

NASA’s Stardust Spacecraft Set For A Valentine’s Day encounter with comet Tempel 1

NASA’s Stardust spacecraft, equipped with the University of Chicago’s Dust Flux Monitor Instrument (DFMI), is hurtling at more than 24,000 miles an hour toward a Valentine’s Day encounter with comet Tempel 1. Stardust will approach to within 124 miles of Tempel 1 at 10:56 p.m. CST Monday, Feb. 14. The spacecraft flew within 150 miles of comet Wild 2 in 2004, when it collected thousands of tiny dust particles streaming from the comet’s nucleus for laboratory analysis. The spacecraft dropped off the samples in a canister that parachuted onto the desert salt flats of Utah in January 2006 following...

A New Comet and Possible Aurora !

January 31, 2011

By admin

A comet discovered just a few days ago by amateur astronomers in Japan is gliding by Saturn in the pre-dawn sky. Comet Ikeya-Murakami (C/2010 V1) is not visible to the unaided eye, but observers say it is a fairly easy target for backyard telescopes. Images obtained over the weekend reveal what appears to be an outburst in progress. The comet’s coma (atmosphere) bears a striking resemblance to the coma of Comet Holmes, which famously exploded in 2007. After unleashing one of the brightest X-ray flares in years on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 6th, sunspot 1121 took Sunday off. No strong...

Comet Hartley 2

January 31, 2011

By admin

Periodic Comet 103P/Hartley 2 will be high in the evening sky when at its best, glowing at perhaps 5th magnitude. It should be dimly visible to the unaided eye from very dark locations, and visible in binoculars and telescopes from almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Hartley 2′s brightness, and its unusually fast slide across the constellations, both result from how closely it will approach Earth: by just 0.12 astronomical unit (11 million miles; 18 million km) on October 20th. This will be its closest approach since its 1986 discovery and one of the closest approaches of any comet...