Comets
Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town. When a comet's orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles. There are likely billions of comets orbiting our Sun in the Kuiper Belt and even more distant Oort Cloud.
   Comets Blog
ALPO Comet News for October 2024
10/4/2024

Last month, the ALPO Comets Section received 120 images and 139 magnitude estimates of 36 comets: C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), C/2024 Q3 (PANSTARRS), C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), C/2024 B1 (Lemmon), C/2023 V4 (Camarasa-Duszanowicz), C/2023 TD22 (Lemmon), C/2023 R1 (PANSTARRS), C/2023 C2 (ATLAS), C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), C/2022 U1 (Leonard), C/2022 N2 (PANSTARRS), C/2022 E2 (ATLAS), C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS), C/2020 V2 (ZTF), P/2024 Q2 = P/2005 SB216 (LONEOS), P/2010 WK (LINEAR), 384P/Kowalski, 360P/WISE, 328P/LONEOS-Tucker, 305P/Skiff, 253P/PANSTARRS, 229P/Gibbs, 208P/McMillan, 190P/Mueller, 154P/Brewington, 146P/Shoemaker-Levy, 136P/Mueller, 130P/McNaught-Hughes, 89P/Russell, 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT, 50P/Arend, 49P/Arend-Riguax, 43P/Wolf-Harrington, 37P/Forbes, 13P/Olbers, and 12P/Pons-Brooks. 

A big thanks to our recent contributors: Dan Bartlett, José J. Chambó, Dan Crowson, Michel Deconinck, Jose Guilherme de Souza Aguiar, Juan Jose Gonzalez Suarez, Christian Harder, Eliot Herman, Rik Hill, Michael Jäger, John Maikner, Gianluca Masi, Michael Mattiazzo, Martin Mobberley, Mike Olason, Andrew Pearce, Chris Schur, Tenho Tuomi, and Christopher Wyatt.

The monthly ALPO Comet News PDF can be found Cloudy Nights forum. All are encouraged to join the discussion over at Cloudy Nights.


View all Comets Section Blogs
   Comets News Headlines
Meteors Shed Light on Comet Composition
8/22/2024

Physics.org logo
In a study recently published in Icarus, researchers using visual and video observations of 47 young meteor showers have found differences in the sizes of meteoroids produced by short-period and long-period comets. The difference in meteoroid sizes may be a relic of the conditions in the early solar system when these objects formed. Jupiter-family comets usually crumble into smaller, denser meteoroids, whereas long-period (Oort Cloud) comets often crumble into sizes indicative of gentle accretion conditions.

 


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Comet's impact triggered downfall of ancient Hopewell?
2/1/2022

The rapid decline of the Hopewell culture about 1,500 years ago might be explained by falling debris from a near-Earth comet that created a devastating explosion over North America, laying waste to forests and Native American villages alike. Researchers found evidence of a cosmic airburst at 11 Hopewell archaeological sites in three states stretching across the Ohio River Valley.


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New comet C/2021 O3 Might Brighten in May 2022
1/20/2022

A comet discovered last July is approaching the inner solar system and might reach binocular visibility (at least) by late April and early May 2022. It’s designated C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) and appears to be “new” to the inner solar system, a first-time visitor. If it survives its April 2022 passage near our star, the comet might become visible to amateur stargazers armed with binoculars in May. At that time, it’ll be in front of the constellation Perseus the Hero, close to the northwestern horizon after sunset.


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More Comets News Headlines
   Event Calendar

Oct 12, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) reaches perigee

Nov 29, 2024
Comet 333P/LINEAR reaches perihelion


Full Comets Section Calendar