Comets/Asteroids

Nearly 50 years after our first steps on the Moon, samples from the Apollo missions, Mars and Vesta still have a lot to tell us about the formation of the planets and the Earth's volcanoesCredit: Matthew Pankhurst et al and Diamond Light…

Credit: NASA/JPL Modeling the shape and movement of near-Earth asteroids is now up to 25 times faster thanks to new Washington State University research. The WSU scientists improved the software used to track thousands of…

New analysis, co-led by UMD astronomer, suggests a natural origin for our first interstellar visitorCredit: ESO/M. Kornmesser On October 19, 2017, astronomers discovered the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system. First…

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab Cyanide and carbon monoxide are both deadly poisons to humans, but compounds containing iron, cyanide, and carbon monoxide discovered in carbon-rich meteorites by a team of…

Kuiper Belt object orientations support streaming instability hypothesisCredit: HST/StSci/SwRI/Simon Porter SAN ANTONIO -- June 25, 2019 -- A Southwest Research Institute-led team studied the orientation of distant solar system bodies…

Machine learning tool allows scientists to search stellar data for likely exoplanet host starsCredit: ESO/M. Kornmesser SAN ANTONIO -- June 25, 2019 -- Inspired by movie streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu, a Southwest…

Scientists use sophisticated computer simulations and observations of trans-Neptunian objects to understand the formation of the solar systemCredit: NASA/APL/SwRI/ESA/STScI Using sophisticated computer simulations and observations, a…

The Comet Interceptor space mission led by UCL has been selected as the first €150M mission for the European Space Agency's new fast-class mission in its Cosmic Vision Programme, intended to launch in 2028 with the UCL-led ARIEL mission.…

Credit: US Naval Research Laboratory WASHINGTON -- Materials science researchers with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have found a remnant of ancient dust from the early stages of the solar system inside a primitive meteorite, named La…

How did the Red Planet get all of its clouds? CU Boulder researchers may have discovered the secret: just add meteors. Astronomers have long observed clouds in Mars' middle atmosphere, which begins about 18 miles (30 kilometers) above…