Meteorites and comets

The orbit of Comet 3I/ATLAS in the solar system. NASA illustration

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS crossed the orbit of Mars this week – a rare window for cosmic research

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NASA and ESA spacecraft are taking advantage of the proximity to Mars to study the comet's chemical composition; perihelion is expected on October 30 and will lead to a peak in activity
The growing tail of 3I/Atlas. (International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist)

What does the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS teach us about other solar systems?

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Researchers have revealed photographs of the interstellar visitor taken about two months before the comet was identified as an interstellar visitor and discovered that it was already active at a great distance from the Sun.
Astronomers have identified 3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar visitor that may hold secrets from the galaxy's distant past. Its unusual speed, size, and possible icy composition make it an enticing target for observations with space telescopes in the near future. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The visitor from outside the solar system is almost as old as the galaxy itself

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An international group of astronomers reported the discovery of the third confirmed interstellar object to enter our solar system on July 3. Now they continue to monitor the approaching comet
A carbonaceous meteorite is about to crash into Earth. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Scientists may have solved a space rock mystery that could change our understanding of the beginnings of life

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An international study has found that carbon-rich meteorites are rare on Earth because they break up in space or burn up in the atmosphere, which could change our understanding of the origin of life.
Discovered in early July, Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object to pass through the solar system. Scientists are tracking its motion and believe it is a rare opportunity to learn about planetary conditions in distant solar systems. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Solar System as a Crossroads – A Third Comet from Another Solar System Discovered

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Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered in early July, is only the third interstellar object to pass through the solar system. Scientists are tracking its motion and believe it is a rare opportunity to learn about planetary conditions in distant solar systems.
In the Bolides. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Supersonic booms in the sky: How scientists are using bolides to improve planetary defense

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Researchers show that bolides – meteoroids that explode in the atmosphere – create sound waves that can be analyzed for warning purposes about space debris and other astronomical threats
Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The explosive secret that hides the violent past of carbonaceous meteorites

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A comet at night above an observatory with stars and a figure observing.

Don't blink – the stunning Comet Atlas is breaking up before our eyes

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Over 100 meteors were recorded in this composite image taken during the peak of the Geminid meteor shower in 2014. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Danielle Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.

The Geminids: The fastest and brightest meteors of the year reach their peak tonight, worth watching despite the moon

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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in the skies of Israel. Photography: Ilan Shapira

There are only a few days left to watch the Zuchinshan-Atlas comet in the evening sky (streaming recording)

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The comet discovered at the same time by two automatic stargazers and named after both is extremely bright. It will return to Earth's proximity only in 80 thousand years
The Perseid rain. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The Perseid Shower and the Moon's conjunctions with Saturn and separately with Mars and Jupiter: August 2024 Sky Viewing Tips from NASA

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For the advanced, you can watch the Lagoon Nebula - a star formation area in the Sagittarius constellation - throughout the month
NASA image showing the comet's predicted path in late January and early February. Credit: NASA

The Green Comet C/2022 E3: How to watch the rare visitor

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Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will approach Earth on February 1st and, although pale in the northern sky, will be seen near the carts/bears before sailing into deep space for millions of years if at all
A meteor shower as photographed with a long exposure (the long lines are the paths of the stars throughout the time of the photograph, the lines crossing them are meteors. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Tonight is the peak of the Perseid rain - a spectacular show is expected

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What is special this year is that the moon is almost not in the sky, three days before the moon reaches its first quarter and sets well before midnight, local time, so it will be possible to see many meteors.
Bolide - fireball - was photographed on the night between August 12 and 13, 2020. Photo: Nadav Rotenberg, chairman of the Israeli Astronomical Society

The fireball that lit up the southern sky yesterday - at the height of the Perseid shower

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Comet NEOWISE as photographed from the Parker spacecraft, on July 5, 2020, when it reached the closest point in its orbit to the Sun. Photo: NASA

Starting this week, comet NEOWISE can be observed in the evening hours

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An illustration of the appearance of Comet Omoamua based on observations by the European Southern Observatory (ESO)

A new formation theory explains the interstellar object Omoamoa

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Comet Borisov, at its closest point to the Sun, December 2019. Photo: Hubble Space Telescope

The interstellar comet Borisov passed the Sun and accelerated

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comet. Illustration: shutterstock

A newly discovered comet is likely a visitor from outside the solar system

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Comet Hale-Bop has a blue dove tail and a curved dust tail. Astronomy for Beginners, Andy Roberts, CC BY

In the coming days there is a chance that we will be able to see a comet without a telescope

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Meteor shower in the small crater (photo: Meschit Golan)

The Ministry of Science and the Space Agency will hold events on the occasion of the Perseid shower on Sunday

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An artist's impression of the first interstellar asteroid Oumuamua, a unique object discovered on October 19, 2017 by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii. Image: NASA

The cigar-shaped object that arrived outside the solar system is an extinct comet, not an asteroid or an alien spacecraft

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Illustration illustrating the exit of meteors from the direction of a group of twins. From a NASA YouTube video

The Geminid shower will peak on the night between Wednesday and Thursday

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comet. Illustration: shutterstock

My life as a comet hunter

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Caroline Herschel. From Wikipedia

Caroline Herschel acquired an education despite her mother's opposition, helped her brother William and recorded astronomical discoveries herself

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A three and a half hour observation of the 2014 Leonid meteor shower. Photo: Mikhail Reva (REVA), Flickr

hot or cold? Some questions about meteors and meteorites

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Wood engraving from 1799 depicting a view of the Leonid meteor from the sea. Public Domain

This year's Leonids: moderate meteor shower. The compensation - the moon will not interfere

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The white stripes stretching across are stars that have moved from their position during the long exposure due to the movement of the Earth. The meteors are the vertical lines. Archive photo: Einat Zbirin

Mass show - thousands came to watch the meteor shower at Mitzpe Ramon

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fire ball. Illustration: shutterstock

NASA: August's Perseid shower - the meteor shower that produces the most fireballs

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Asteroid attack on Earth and Moon. Illustration: shutterstock

Oceans from the sky / David Jewitt and Edward D. Young

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The sky map shows the radiant of the Lyrid meteor at dawn on April 23, 2015

Tonight (22/4) is the peak of the meteor shower for the fairs

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Coals from a rocky comet: the Geminids shower, December 13, 2013, multiple image compilation. Photo: NASA

120 meteors per hour: Tonight and tomorrow the Geminids meteor shower show

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These images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) are of the nucleus of Comet C/2013 A1 or Siding Spring during the comet's transit near Mars on October 19, 2014. Comet Siding Spring is on its first trip near the Sun and came from the Oort Cloud at the outer edge of the system the sun The image composed of two versions of two of the best photographs of the comet by HiRISE, in the upper part the images from dynamic range, show the nucleus and the bright halo near the nucleus. At the bottom of the image you see two clarified versions of the outer halo, in which the inner area is saturated. The pictures on the left and right were taken nine minutes apart. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The nucleus of the Siding Spring comet that passed by Mars is smaller than expected

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Comet Siding Spring in the sky of Mars. A raw (night) image taken by NASA's Curiosity robotic vehicle on the surface of Mars. From a NASA tweet about an hour after the comet's approach to Mars, 19/10/2014

The first raw image of Comet Siding Spring from Mars

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Illustration of the passage of the Siding Spring comet near Mars. Source: NASA

A ball of light in the sky of Mars

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A supermoon over the Timna Valley. Photo: shutterstock

A larger than usual full moon on the occasion of Tu Bab; may overshadow the Perseid meteor shower

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Comet Jacques and the Agalon Group Nebula IC 405, also known as the Burning Star Nebula, aligned and formed a temporary question mark in the sky on the morning of July 26. Photo: Rolando Lagostri

Comet Jacques created a question mark in the sky

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A bright meteor in the Giraffe Shower, May 24, 2014, as photographed from Duluth, Minnesota. Photo: Bob King, universe today

US report: Giraffe meteor shower was sparse but produced some nice slow meteors

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The position of the giraffe (Caneleopard) group in the sky, in a circle - the radiant position of May's giraffe meter. Photo: NASA/MEO/D. Moser using Starry Night Pro

Reminder: new meteor shower - the giraffe: the peak is expected tomorrow morning

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Meteors. Photo: NASA website

NASA: New meteor shower expected on May 24

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Fireball over Murmansk, Russia, April 19, 2014. Screenshot from Russia Today broadcasts

Hedi Chelyabinsk: Another fireball exploded over Russia on April 19, this time there were no casualties

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The flare caused by a car-sized object crashing into the moon. Photo: Jose Madedo

A meteorite crashed into the moon in an unprecedented blow to its brightness

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The remains of Comet Ison, as photographed by the Soho spacecraft of NASA and the European Space Agency the day after perihelion.

Astronomers: There is still hope that some fragments from the nucleus of Comet Ison survived the passage

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Comet Ison approaches the Sun, November 28, 2013. Photo: NASA/European Space Agency

Comet Ison disintegrated as it approached the Sun * Experts: It disintegrated from the inside in the hours preceding its passage by the Sun

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A living creature discovered at a height of 27 kilometers in the atmosphere. Did it come from space? Photo: University of Sheffield

Living creatures from space or just drifting?

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Chemical analysis of the meteorite fragment that crashed into Shatter Mill may indicate that rocks in space contained the molecules required for the development of life. Photo: Prof. Sandra Fitzgerald, Arizona State University

Life started out easy, because the organic compounds that came from space were more complex than we thought until now

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Larger meteorites cause bright flashes of light when they hit Earth's atmosphere, such as this fireball captured during the Perseid shower on August 12, 2006. However, the bulk of meteoric activity is much less spectacular - about 10-40 tons of meteor dust enters the atmosphere ours every day. Photo: Pierre Martin

Tonight's Perseid-like meteor shower is only the tip of the iceberg. NASA maps tons of meteor dust in the sky every day

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Another angle of view of the meteor that hit Russia on Friday, 15/2/2013, from a YouTube video

The shock wave of the meteor that hit Russia in February circled the Earth twice in three days

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Tag of an airborne mission to track the Dragonids in 2011

A ton of material was added to the Earth in one meteorite meter

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Beads found in Egypt, made from a meteorite rich in iron. Photo: The Open University of Great Britain

The accessories of ancient Egypt - meteorites

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Simulation of a meteorite impact on the lunar surface, March 17, 2013. Image: NASA

NASA: A bright explosion on the moon was caused by a meteor impact weighing 30-40 kg

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