While exoplanets are now routinely detected, the detection of small bodies in extrasolar systems remains challenging. Since the discovery of sporadic events interpreted as exocomets (Falling Evaporating Bodies) around β […]
Comets and Asteroids
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Puzzle About Nitrogen Solved Thanks to Cometary Analogues
Comets and asteroids are objects in our solar system that have not developed much since the planets were formed. As a result, they are in a sense the archives of […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Water Production Rates And Activity Of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
We observed the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov using the Neil Gehrels-Swift Observatory’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. We obtained images of the OH gas and dust surrounding the nucleus at four epochs spaced before […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
FLAMINGOS-2 Infrared Photometry of 2I/Borisov
2I/Borisov is the second interstellar object (ISO) after ‘Oumuamua (Meech et al. 2017), but differs from ‘Oumuamua drastically with its extensive cometary activity. A key ingredient to understand the nature […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Low Resolution Optical Spectra and Diatomic Carbon Detections of 2I/Borisov
2I/Borisov is the first-ever observed interstellar comet (and the second detected interstellar object). It was discovered on 30 August 2019 and has a heliocentric orbital eccentricity of ~ 3.35, corresponding […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Searching For Water Ice In The Coma Of Interstellar Object 2I/Borisov
Interstellar Objects (ISO) passing through our Solar System offer a rare opportunity to probe the physical and chemical processes involved in solid body and planet formation in extrasolar systems. The […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Astronomers Detect Gas Molecules in Comet from Another Star
An international team of astronomers have made a historic discovery using the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), detecting gas molecules in a comet which has tumbled into our solar system from […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Detection of a Water Tracer in Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
We present high spectral resolution optical spectra obtained with the ARCES instrument at Apache Point Observatory showing detection of the [OI]6300 A line in interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. We employ the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Impact events, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release
Did Comet Impacts Jump-start Life On Earth?
Comets screaming through the atmosphere of early Earth at tens of thousands of miles per hour likely contained measurable amounts of protein-forming amino acids. Upon impact, these amino acids self-assembled […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Unidentified Infrared Emission Features in Mid-infrared Spectrum of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner (hereafter, comet 21P/G-Z) is a Jupiter-family comet and a parent comet of the October Draconids meteor shower. If meteoroids originating from a Jupiter-family comet contain complex organic molecules, […]