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.
In Depth | 1P/Halley – NASA Solar System Exploration
Until the time of English astronomer Edmond Halley (1656-1742), comets were believed to make only one pass through the solar system. But in 1705, Halley used Isaac Newton's theories of gravitation …
In 1950, astronomer Jan Oort proposed that certain comets come from a vast, extremely distant spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding the solar system. This giant swarm of objects, now named …
In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; …
In Depth | Perseids – NASA Solar System Exploration
When comets come around the Sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them. Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate to …
In Depth | Kuiper Belt – NASA Solar System Exploration
Researchers have found that some near-Earth asteroids are actually burned-out comets, and most of them would have started out in the Kuiper Belt. Many comets crash into the Sun or the planets.
In Depth | 2P/Encke – NASA Solar System Exploration
However, this comet is not named after its discoverer (s). Instead it is named after Johann Franz Encke who calculated the comet's orbit. The letter P indicates that 2P/Encke is a periodic comet. Periodic …
In Depth | Oumuamua – NASA Solar System Exploration
The first known interstellar object to visit our solar system, 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, was discovered Oct. 19, 2017 by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope, funded by NASA’s Near-Earth …
In Depth | 19P/Borrelly – NASA Solar System Exploration
Comets are usually named for their discoverer (s) or for the name of the observatory or telescope used in the discovery. Since Alphonse Borrelly discovered this comet, it is named after him.
C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) - NASA Solar System Exploration
Comets are usually named for their discoverer (s) or for the name of the observatory/telescope used in the discovery. Since both Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered this comet it is named for them.