Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

May 27, 2014

My Time With Comet Lovejoy (Op-Ed)

Victor Rogus is an amateur astronomer, and this is the sixth in his series of exclusive Space.com posts about amateur astronomy. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On September 7, 2013, Australian Terry Lovejoy — using an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope — discovered what would be...

Jul 14, 2014

Capturing a Comet-Galaxy Conjunction

Victor Rogus is an amateur astronomer, and this is the eighth in his series of exclusive Space.com posts about amateur astronomy. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. I was prepared well in advance for a most exciting event to occur on the night of April...

Aug 11, 2014

Man in the Comet: Why We See Faces Everywhere

Forget about the man in the moon, there's a new ghostly face in space — this time on a comet. As the European spacecraft Rosetta approached the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Aug. 3, it snapped a photo of the comet's rocky surface — and what looked like a face on the...

Oct 16, 2014

Comet Will Buzz Mars Sunday: How to See It in Telescopes

A comet is on course for a super-close approach to the planet Mars this Sunday (Oct. 19) in a rare celestial encounter. And if you have a moderate-size telescope, you just might be able to spot the icy wanderer as it nears the Red Planet, weather permitting. The comet in...

Nov 11, 2014

European Probe to Make Daring Landing on Comet Wednesday: Watch Live

A European probe is expected to make an audacious landing on the face of a comet tomorrow (Nov. 12), and you can follow it live online starting today (Nov. 11). The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is currently orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko while speeding through deep space. If successful, the landing...

Nov 12, 2014

European Spacecraft Lands on Comet in Historic Space Feat

For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth has landed on the face of a comet speeding through deep space. The European Space Agency's Philae lander on the Rosetta spacecraft made its nail-biting, history-making touchdown on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko today (Nov. 12). Mission controllers are still trying to...

Nov 18, 2014

A Comet Did It! Mystery of Giant Crater Solved

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:55 p.m. E.T. The origins of a massive 1.8 billion-year-old crater in Canada has been revealed The Sudbury Basin, which is the world's second-largest impact crater, was likely formed by an enormous comet that battered Earth more than 1.8 billion years ago, new...

Dec 19, 2014

Daring Philae Comet Landing Named Top Breakthrough of 2014

The first-ever soft landing of a robotic probe the surface of a comet has just been named the top scientific breakthrough of 2014 by the journal Science. The European Space Agency's comet-studying Rosetta mission is telling scientists more about the origins of the solar system, according to representatives with Science....

May 5, 2015

Bagging a Comet? The Craziest Ways to Give Earth Its Water Supply

Earth is bathed in water, but will there be enough for everyone in the future? The question doesn't have an easy answer. Humans are drawing down the resource too quickly for it to be replenished, which could lead to conflict and natural catastrophes, experts said April 27 at the 15th...

Jun 15, 2015

It's Alive! Comet Lander Philae Phones Home After Months of Silence

A European probe that made a bouncy landing on a comet last year, and then slipped into a silent hibernation, is alive again and phoning home. The European Space Agency's Philae comet lander, which dropped onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the Rosetta spacecraft last November, beamed an 85-second wake-up message to...

Jun 25, 2015

Bizarre Cometlike Alien Planet Is First of Its Kind

A Neptune-size planet appears to be masquerading as a comet, with a gargantuan stream of gas flowing behind it like a comet's tail. The bizarre find is the first of its kind ever discovered by astronomers. The strange, cometlike planet, known as GJ 436b, is orbiting a red dwarf star...

Mar 21, 2016

Incoming Comet to Buzz Earth in Historic Close Flyby

A comet will zoom past Earth Tuesday morning (March 22) in a close encounter of historic proportions. Comet P/2016 BA14, which you can see in this video of the object and its orbit, will come within 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) of the planet at about 10:30 a.m. EDT...

Apr 30, 2016

Weird Tailless Comet, First Ever Seen, Is a Building Block of Earth

A new kind of comet that is nearly tailless has been discovered — and the surprises don't stop there. The new comet recently returned from the edge of the solar system but may have originated much closer to the sun, scientists say. In fact, it may even reveal clues about...

May 27, 2016

Stunning Turquoise Comet Wows Amateur Astronomer (Photo)

Skywatcher Chris Schur was able to glimpse the comet in this stunning image with his naked eye just after capturing it on camera. The image is of Comet 252P/LINEAR as seen from Payson, Arizona on the morning of April 2. While it was exposing, I did get to look at...

May 31, 2016

Building Blocks of Life Found in Comet's Atmosphere

For the first time, scientists have directly detected a crucial amino acid and a rich selection of organic molecules in the dusty atmosphere of a comet, further bolstering the hypothesis that these icy objects delivered some of life's ingredients to Earth. The amino acid glycine, along with some of its...