Comet News

December 16, 2011
Sungrazing comet Lovejoy, expected to vaporize with its encounter with the Sun, astounds scientists when it re-emerges from the other side. Link 1 | Link 2

October 6, 2011
Comet water found to be similar to that in earth's oceans
The water in a comet called 103P/Hartley 2 is chemically very similar to water on Earth, researchers find. more | journal article

February 9, 2011
NASA Spacecraft Closes in on Comet Tempel 1
Stardust-NExT is closing in for a second look of the comet on Feb. 14, 2011. More

September 15, 2010
NASA Spacecraft Hurtles Toward Comet
NASA's Deep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft is hurtling toward Comet Hartley 2 for a breathtaking 435-mile flyby on Nov. 4th. Mission scientists say all systems are go for a close encounter with one of the smallest yet most active comets they've seen. More

August 17, 2009
NASA Researchers discover glycine in comet
Researches confirm presence of amino acid returned from dust collected from Comet Wild 2 with the Stardust spacecraft.
More

February 9, 2009
Comet Lulin brightens to naked-eye visibility
The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009
More

November 2, 2007
Exploding comet astounds astronomers
Comet Holmes, a dim comet visible only in telescopes, unexpectedly brightened in the past couple of weeks and is now visible to the naked eye.
More

January 13, 2007
Brightest comet in 40 years
Comet McNaught, discovered last year, is continuing to brighten and is now visible to viewers in the southen hemisphere.

May 2006
Mini-Comets Flies past Earth
A cometary "string-of-pearls" flew past Earth in May 2006 giving astronomers a fantastic view of a dying comet.
NASA news

March 13, 2006
Stardust Samples Show Evidence of Fire, Ice
Scientists find presence of minerals that formed in high temperatures in the comet dust returned by NASA's Stardust mission. The presence of Olivine suggests that the material may have been formed near the center of the solar system, instead of outside the solar system, as previously believed.
NASA'S Stardust Mission

January 15, 2006
NASA's Stardust Mission Returns to Earth
After seven years in space, NASA's Stardust sample return mission returned safely to Earth when the capsule carrying cometary and interstellar particles successfully touched down at 5:10 a.m. Eastern time (3:10 a.m. Mountain time) in the desert salt flats of the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range.