Search results for Oort cloud

Astronomy Jun 2, 2022

Close encounter more than 10,000 years ago stirred up spirals in accretion disk

Dr. Lu Xing, an associate researcher from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators from Yunnan University, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, ...

Astronomy May 26, 2022

Researcher describes how extraterrestrial civilizations could colonize the galaxy even if they don't have starships

Astronomers have searched for extraterrestrial civilizations in planetary systems for sixty years, to no avail. In the paper published by International Journal of Astrobiology, Cambridge University Press, and titled "Migrating ...

Astronomy May 16, 2022

Extraterrestrial stone brings first supernova clues to Earth

New chemistry "forensics" indicate that the stone named Hypatia from the Egyptian desert could be the first tangible evidence found on Earth of a supernova type Ia explosion. These rare supernovas are some of the most energetic ...

Astronomy Apr 17, 2022

Astronomers confirm size of largest comet ever discovered, bigger than Rhode Island

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Telescope have confirmed the existence the largest comet ever discovered, and it will pass by our sun in the next decade.

Astronomy Apr 12, 2022

4 billion-year-old relic from early solar system heading our way

An enormous comet—approximately 80 miles across, more than twice the width of Rhode Island—is heading our way at 22,000 miles per hour from the edge of the solar system. Fortunately, it will never get closer than 1 billion ...

Astronomy Mar 14, 2022

Still searching for Planet 9

The solar system has eight planets. In 2006, astronomers reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet, the same class that contains Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, Ceres and perhaps many more solar system small bodies. These are defined approximately ...

Astronomy Feb 17, 2022

Studying the next interstellar interloper with Webb

One of the most exciting findings in planetary science in recent years is the discovery of interstellar objects passing through our solar system. So far, astronomers have confirmed only two of these interlopers from other ...

Astronomy Feb 8, 2022

How dark matter could be measured in the solar system

Pictures of the Milky Way show billions of stars arranged in a spiral pattern radiating out from the center, with illuminated gas in between. But our eyes can only glimpse the surface of what holds our galaxy together. About ...

Astronomy Feb 8, 2022

Comet 2014 UN271 the largest ever observed

A team of researchers with the Paris observatory and Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-CSIC, has confirmed that comet 2014 UN271 is the largest comet ever observed. They published a paper describing their findings on ...

Space Exploration Jan 5, 2022

2029 will be the perfect year to launch a mission to Sedna

Object 90377 Sedna—a distant trans-Neptunian object known best for its highly elliptical, 11,390-year long orbit—is currently on its way toward perihelion (its closest approach to the sun) in 2076. After that, Sedna will ...

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