Tag Archives: Comets
The water in Jupiter’s stratosphere was brought by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Astronomers have been studying the presence of water in the stratosphere of Jupiter for a long time. Now, thanks to the use of ESA’s Herschel Space Telescope, a team believe they have found evidence that this water was brought by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into the planet in 1994. Continue reading
New photos of comet ISON, already announced as the comet of the century
Comet ISON is approaching the Sun and astronomers have already guarantee that the show will be amazing. In fact, thanks to its size and an orbit that will bring it very close to the Sun, in November 2013 it could be as bright as the full Moon. On April 10, the Hubble Space Telescope took some amazing new photos of this comet, which is already active despite being just slightly closer to the Sun than Jupiter. Continue reading
Two theories for the gamma-ray burst detected on Christmas 2010
On Christmas Day of 2010, NASA’s orbital observatory Swift detected a gamma-ray burst which lasted at least half an hour and was formally labeled as GRB 101225A. There are two theories about its origin: a merger of a neutron star and a red giant and a comet colliding with a neutron star. Continue reading
Comet rain discovered in the Eta Corvi star system by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope allowed scientists to study the Eta Corvi star system finding signs of a comet rain that hit a rocky planet. Continue reading
The Stardust probe met the Tempel 1 comet
In July 2005 the Deep Impact probe made the first visit to the comet Tempel 1, in recent days the Stardust spacecraft has taken new photos, including the ones of the crater left by the impactor launched from Deep Impact, and made new measurements to improve our knowledge. Continue reading
