Why Comets Are Important - NASA Solar System Exploration
Jun 7, 2000 · What Are Comets? * Comets are small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies composed of a mixture of grains and frozen gases. They have highly elliptical orbits that repeatedly bring them very close to the Sun and then swing them deeply into space, often beyond the orbit of …
In Depth | 1P/Halley – NASA Solar System Exploration
Halley is often called the most famous comet because it marked the first time astronomers understood comets could be repeat visitors to our night skies. Astronomers have now linked the comet's appearances to observations dating back more than 2,000 years.
Stardust - NASA's Comet Sample Return Mission - NASA Solar …
The primary goal of the Stardust mission was to collect samples of a comet and return them to Earth for laboratory analysis. Comets are ancient bodies of frozen ice and dust that formed beyond the orbit of the most distant planet.
In Depth | Stardust – NASA Solar System Exploration
Feb 7, 1999 · Asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects—all kinds of small bodies of rock, metal and ice are in constant motion as they orbit the Sun. But what’s the difference between them? Why do these miniature worlds fascinate space explorers so much?
In Depth | Perseids – NASA Solar System Exploration
The Comet. The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the Sun once. It was Giovanni Schiaparelli who realized in 1865 that this comet was the source of the Perseids. Comet Swift-Tuttle last visited the inner solar system in 1992.
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors - NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system’s small bodies – asteroids, comets, and meteors – pack big surprises. These chunks of rock, ice, and metal are leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They are a lot like a fossil record of our early solar system.
Stardust: Returning Comet Samples to Earth - NASA Solar System …
Stardust was launched in 1999 with the goal of flying past the comet Wild 2, collecting thousands of dust particles and returning them to Earth. After return, the samples will be studied, in intimate detail, by researchers around the world using the most sensitive and accurate instruments in …
Stardust | JPL | NASA - NASA Solar System Exploration
Nov 26, 2003 · Stardust will be not only the first US mission to a comet, but the first robotic return of cometary dust and volatile samples. Stardust is the culmination of more than a decade's quest for a comet coma sample return mission. The scientific value of having actual bona-fide comet samples in hand cannot be overestimated.
In Depth | Oumuamua – NASA Solar System Exploration
The object, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - NASA Solar System Exploration
On the night of March 24, 1993, Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy discovered a strange looking comet from a photograph taken from the 0.4 meter Schmidt telescope in Palomar Observatory in Califonia.