COBS News archive

Green comet makes closest approach to earth
September 09, 2018
On Sept. 10th, Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner ("21P" for short) will make its closest approach to Earth in 72 years--only 58 million km from our planet. This small but active comet is easy to see in small telescopes and binoculars as it shines like a 7th magnitude star. Michael Jäger of Weißenkirchen, Austria, sends this photo of 21P passing through the stars of Auriga on Sept. 7th.

A Green Comet Approaches Earth
August 25, 2018
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is approaching Earth. On Sept. 10th, it will be 0.39 AU (58 million km) from our planet and almost bright enough to see with the naked eye. Already it is an easy target for backyard telescopes.

The cautionary tail of Comet Swift–Tuttle
August 10, 2018
Comet Swift–Tuttle, formally 109P/Swift–Tuttle, is an enormous, icy comet on a 133 year orbit around the Sun, and the reason for the spectacular annual Perseids meteor showers on Earth.

New Comet: C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)
July 18, 2018
MPEC 2018-O01, issued on 2018, July 16, announces the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~16.1) in the course of the "All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae" (ASASSN) program, in images taken 2018 July 7-11 with the 14-cm "Cassius" survey telescope at Cerro Tololo. The new comet has been designated C/2018 N2 (ASASSN).

Molecular oxygen in comet's atmosphere not created on its surface
July 09, 2018
Scientists have found that molecular oxygen around comet 67P is not produced on its surface, as some suggested, but may be from its body.

Chasing 'Oumuamua
June 29, 2018
The interstellar object 'Oumuamua perplexed scientists in October 2017 as it whipped past Earth at an unusually high speed. This mysterious visitor is the first object ever seen in our solar system that is known to have originated elsewhere.

Our Solar System's First Known Interstellar Object Gets Unexpected Speed Boost
June 29, 2018
Using observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories, an international team of scientists has confirmed 'Oumuamua (oh-MOO-ah-MOO-ah), the first known interstellar object to travel through our solar system, got an unexpected boost in speed and shift in trajectory as it passed through the inner solar system last year.

`Oumuamua gets a boost
June 29, 2018
`Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in the Solar System, is moving away from the Sun faster than expected. This anomalous behavior was detected by a worldwide astronomical collaboration. The new results suggest that `Oumuamua is most likely an interstellar comet and not an asteroid.

Interstellar asteroid is really a comet
June 29, 2018
An object from another star system that made a brief appearance in our skies guised as an asteroid turns out to be a tiny interstellar comet.

Rosetta image archive complete
June 22, 2018
All high-resolution images and the underpinning data from Rosetta’s pioneering mission at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko are now available in ESA’s archives, with the last release including the iconic images of finding lander Philae, and Rosetta’s final descent to the comet’s surface.

What interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua can teach us
March 28, 2018
The first interstellar object ever seen in our solar system, named 'Oumuamua, is giving scientists a fresh perspective on the development of planetary systems. A new study by a team including astrophysicists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, calculated how this visitor from outside our solar system fits into what we know about how planets, asteroids and comets form.

A star disturbed the comets of the solar system 70,000 years ago
March 21, 2018
About 70,000 years ago, a small reddish star approached our solar system and gravitationally disturbed comets and asteroids. Astronomers from the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Cambridge have verified that the movement of some of these objects is still marked by that stellar encounter.

New Comet: C/2018 E1 (ATLAS)
March 20, 2018
CBET nr. 4494, issued on 2018, March 16, announces the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~17) in the course of the "Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) search program on CCD images obtained with a 0.5-m f/2 Schmidt reflector at Haleakala, Hawaii. Posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, it has been reported as showing cometary activity by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. The new comet has been designated C/2018 E1 (ATLAS).

Interstellar asteroid, 'Oumuamua, likely came from a binary star system
March 20, 2018
New research finds that 'Oumuamua, the rocky object identified as the first confirmed interstellar asteroid, very likely came from a binary star system.

Comet 'Chury's' late birth
March 19, 2018
Comets which consist of two parts, like Chury, can form after a catastrophic collision of larger bodies. Such collisions may have taken place in a later phase of our solar system, which suggests that Chury can be much younger than previously assumed. This is shown through computer simulations by an international research group with the participation of the University of Bern.

Rosetta and Planck honoured in annual Royal Astronomical Society awards
January 15, 2018
ESA’s Matt Taylor has been awarded the 2018 Service Award for Geophysics by the Royal Astronomical Society for his outstanding contribution to the Rosetta mission, while the Planck mission has been honoured with the Group Achievement Award for their extraordinary achievements in cosmology.

NASA's newly renamed Swift Mission spies a comet slowdown
January 11, 2018
NASA's Swift spacecraft, now renamed the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after the mission's late principal investigator, has detected the most dramatic change in a comet's rotation ever seen.

Arecibo Radar Returns with Asteroid Phaethon Images
January 08, 2018
After several months of downtime since Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico, the Arecibo Observatory Planetary Radar has returned to normal operation, providing the highest-resolution images to date of near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon during its December 2017 close approach to Earth.

NASA Invests in Concept Development for Missions to Comet, Saturn Moon Titan
January 08, 2018
NASA has selected two finalist concepts for a robotic mission planned to launch in the mid-2020s: a comet sample return mission and a drone-like rotorcraft that would explore potential landing sites on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

Alien object 'Oumuama was a natural body visiting from another solar system
December 20, 2017
Scientists have investigated a mysterious object that passed close to Earth after arriving from deep interstellar space.