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Scientists show how terrain evolves on an icy comet

With an eye toward a possible return mission years in the future, Cornell astronomers have shown how smooth terrains—a good place to land a spacecraft and to scoop up samples—evolve on the icy world of comets.

Madrid meteor's cometary origins unearthed

A fireball spotted over Madrid has had its astronomical ancestry unearthed. While it ended its days burning up in Earth's atmosphere on 31 July this year, the fragment began its life as part of Comet 169P/NEAT, responsible ...

Shedding light on comet Chury's unexpected chemical complexity

A team of researchers led by the University of Bern has for the first time identified an unexpected richness of complex organic molecules at a comet. This was achieved thanks to the analysis of data collected during ESA's ...

Near-sun comet roasted to death

Astronomers using a fleet of world leading telescopes on the ground and in space have captured images of a periodic rocky near-sun comet breaking apart. This is the first time such a comet has been caught in the act of disintegrating ...

Comet Interceptor approved for construction

ESA's Comet Interceptor mission to visit a pristine comet or other interstellar object just starting its journey into the inner solar system has been "adopted" this week; the study phase is complete and, following selection ...

'Spot the difference' to help reveal Rosetta image secrets

Today, ESA and the Zooniverse launch Rosetta Zoo, a citizen science project that invites volunteers to engage in a cosmic game of "spot the difference." By browsing through pictures collected by ESA's Rosetta mission, you ...

Scientists discover comet's hourglass-shaped dust trail

Researchers from Finland, Canada, and Russia have discovered an unusual, hourglass-shaped dust trail of the comet 17P/Holmes. The particles that formed the dust trail were released by the most powerful of the thus-far documented ...

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