Comet 2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) – dubbed ‘The Record-Breaker’ – will make its close approach to Earth on July 14, 2022, and then reach perihelion (the closest point to the Sun) on December 19, close to the orbit of Mars. The comet is record-breaking because it was already becoming active when it was discovered in 2017 under the feeble glow of the distant Sun.
On May 15, 2022, Earth is expected to pass through a debris field created by asteroid 2006 GY2, potentially creating a meteor outburst.
A large near-Earth asteroid designated 1994 PC1 will fly past Earth at a distance of 5.5 LD / 0.01325 AU (1.98 million km / 1.23 million miles) on January 18, 2022. This is the second-closest approach of this object to Earth since 1933. 1994 PC1 is an Apollo-class…
This bright North Taurid fireball overflew the Mediterranean Sea at 22:52 UTC on November 7, 2021. It was produced by a fragment from Comet Encke that hit the atmosphere at about 111 000 km/h (68 970 mph). The fireball began at an altitude of about 101 km (62 mph)…
Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein (C/2014 UN271) — the largest comet ever discovered — is heading towards our solar system and forecast to make its closest approach in 2031 at 10.1 AU or slightly farther than Saturn. The current estimate suggests its nucleus is…
SETI Institute researchers are reporting that they can now detect showers from the debris in the path of comets that pass close to Earth orbit and are known to return as infrequent as once every 4 000 years. "This creates a situational awareness for potentially…
A very bright Kreutz-family Sungrazing comet was destroyed by the Sun on May 10, 2021. The object entered the view of the SOHO spacecraft's LASCO C3 instrument early May 8 and C2 on May 10. The object appeared to be tens of meters in diameter, which is fairly…
A large fireball that exploded over Botswana in 2018 (asteroid 2018 LA) likely originated from Vesta, the second-largest object in the asteroid belt, according to an international team of scientists who analyzed fragments recovered after the impact. Vesta is the…
ESA's Rosetta mission has revealed that its target comet, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has its own far-ultraviolet aurora. This is the first time such electromagnetic emissions in the far-ultraviolet have been detected on a celestial object, aside from any…
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spotted an unusual object identified as a triple comet flying past the Sun in early August. Although the satellite captures comets all the time– most of which are Kreutz sungrazers– the particular object is not a…
