Comets as a research area encompass the multidisciplinary study of small icy bodies in the Solar System, focusing on their composition, physical properties, dynamics, and role in planetary system formation and evolution. This field integrates observational astronomy, spectroscopy, celestial mechanics, laboratory astrophysics, and space mission data to characterize volatile and refractory components, dust-gas interactions, nucleus structure, coma and tail formation, and outgassing processes. Research addresses orbital evolution, non-gravitational forces, and reservoirs such as the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, with implications for understanding primordial Solar System materials, delivery of volatiles and organics to terrestrial planets, and comparative planetology.
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has been something of a mystery ever since it graced our solar system. From all outward appearances, the object appears to be a comet that originated in another star system and was ejected ...
Astronomy
Oct 13, 2025
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87
For millions of years, a fragment of ice and dust drifted between the stars—like a sealed bottle cast into the cosmic ocean. This summer, that bottle finally washed ashore in our solar system and was designated 3I/ATLAS, ...
Astrobiology
Oct 7, 2025
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791
Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS has been constantly changing as it makes its way through our solar system. That's to be expected, as, for the first time in potentially billions of years, it's getting close to the energy put ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 6, 2025
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255
A comet from another star system will swing by Mars on Friday as a fleet of spacecraft trains its sights on the interstellar visitor.
Space Exploration
Oct 2, 2025
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116
Young asteroids—which formed much later than those that were created during the formation of our solar system—are typically created when larger asteroids, planetesimals, or comets collide and break up into smaller pieces. ...
Exoplanets aren't the only objects floating around other stars—they likely have comets and asteroids as well. Even some of the exoplanets themselves will have "exomoons," at least according to our current understanding of ...
Astronomy
Sep 24, 2025
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29
The eyes of every astronomer widened this year when an interstellar traveler was discovered in our solar system.
Planetary Sciences
Sep 9, 2025
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178
Astronomers and students working together through a unique educational initiative have obtained a striking new image of the growing tail of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. The observations reveal a prominent tail and glowing ...
Astronomy
Sep 5, 2025
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497
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has completed a mission study detailing how a proposed spacecraft could fly by an interstellar comet, providing remarkable insights into the properties of bodies originating beyond our ...
Space Exploration
Sep 3, 2025
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132
All (or at least most) astronomical eyes are on 3I/ATLAS, our most recent interstellar visitor that was discovered in early July. Given its relatively short observational window in our solar system, and especially its impending ...
Astronomy
Sep 1, 2025
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494
