Comet Lovejoy in a Winter Sky
27.01.2015

Which of these night sky icons can you find in this beautiful and deep exposure of the northern winter sky? Skylights include the stars in Orion's belt, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades star cluster, the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel, the California Nebula, Barnard's Loop, and Comet Lovejoy.

Comet Bradfield Passes the Sun
19.04.2004

Right now, Comet Bradfield is passing the Sun. The above image, the latest taken in the direction of the Sun by the SOHO LASCO instrument, shows the comet and its dust tail as the elongated white streak. The Sun would normally be seen in the very center but has been blocked from view.

An Extreme UltraViolet View of the Comet
30.03.1996

As the Sun floods Comet Hyakutake with ultraviolet light gases in the coma scatter the radiation and fluoresce making the comet a bright source in the ultraviolet sky. The above image made using data...

M27: Not A Comet
3.08.2006

While searching the skies above 18th century France for comets, astronomer Charles Messier diligently recorded this object as number 27 on his list of things which are definitely not comets. So what is it?

Comet Meets Ring Nebula: Part I
11.05.2006

As dawn approached on May 8, astronomer Stefan Seip carefully watched Fragment C of broken comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 approach M57 - the Ring Nebula, and faint spiral galaxy IC 1296. Of course, even though...

Comet and CME on the Sun
5.10.2011

Did a sun-diving comet just cause a solar explosion? Probably not. This past weekend a comet dove toward the Sun and was followed very quickly by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CMEs) from the other side of the Sun.

M27 Not a Comet
9.06.2017

While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets. This is number 27 on his now famous not-a-comet list.

Exploring Comet Tails
13.04.2000

Comets are known for their tails. In the spring of 1997 and 1996 Comet Hale-Bopp (above) and Comet Hyakutake gave us stunning examples as they passed near the Sun. These extremely active comets were...

The Opposing Tails of Comet Garradd
28.02.2012

Why does Comet Garradd have two tails? Visible on the left, Comet Garradd's dust tail is composed of ice and dust bits that trial the comet in its orbit around the Sun. Visible...

Discovery Image: Comet SOHO (1998 J1)
20.05.1998

Staring at the Sun from a vantage point in space (Kids, don't try this at home!), the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has enabled the discovery of much about our closest star. It has also been used to discover about 50 comets.