Will Comet ISON Be a Great Comet or Another Kahoutek PR Disaster?
One of the most legendary PR disasters in the history of astronomy happened in 1973 when the world awaited the arrival of comet Kohoutek, discovered by…
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Most Centaurs Appear to Be Comets
The true identity of centaurs, the small celestial bodies orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Neptune, is one of the enduring mysteries of astrophysics. Are they…
Read the articleGas Emission From Comet Ison Seen by Spitzer Space Telescope
Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have observed what most likely are strong carbon dioxide emissions from Comet ISON ahead of its anticipated pass through the…
Read the articleComet ISON Imaged by Hubble Space Telescope
Across the world, children fall asleep under the faint light from glow-in-the-dark astronomy stickers. Though undeniably adorable, these ceiling planetariums are too jam-packed to be realistic. You’d…
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Hubble Takes Photo of Comet ISON
Later this year, Comet ISON is expected to become a naked-eye object when it skims through the atmosphere of the sun. The Hubble Space Telescope has…
Read the articleCould Comet ISON Produce a Meteor Shower?
Anticipation is building as Comet ISON plunges into the inner solar system for a close encounter with the sun in November 2013. Blasted at point-blank range…
Read the articleComet 2013 A1 Could Strike Mars in October 2014
Over the years, the spacefaring nations of Earth have sent dozens of probes and rovers to explore Mars. Today there are three active satellites circling the…
Read the articleComet PANSTARRS Moves Into the Northern Hemisphere This Weekend
Comets visible to the naked eye are a rare delicacy in the celestial smorgasbord of objects in the nighttime sky. Scientists estimate that the opportunity to…
Read the articleComet Pan-STARRS Is Plunging Towards the Sun – It’s Visible in Sunset Skies in the Southern Hemisphere
Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) is now inside the orbit of Mercury and it is brightening as it approaches the sun. Observers in the southern hemisphere say…
Read the articleComet Pan-STARRS Could Become a Naked-Eye Object in March
Far beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto, where the sun is a pinprick of light not much brighter than other stars, a vast swarm of…
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