Rosetta probe touches down
ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet – the first time in history that such a feat has been achieved. In a world first, those interested were able to follow the space mission live on Twitter.
Hubble shows comet anatomy
NASA has released an image of a comet that, on 19 October, will pass within 84 000 miles of Mars – less than half the distance between Earth and our moon. The image on the left, captured on 11 March by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, shows comet C/2013 A1,...
Comet ends 5,5m-year odyssey
Comet ISON is not thought to have survived its brush with the sun yesterday. The comet, which has been travelling from the edge of the solar system for the last 5,5-million years, yesterday passed within 1,2-million km of the sun – and disappeared. Watched by a number...
Comet races towards the sun
As Comet ISON races towards the sun, scientists are watching to see if it will survive the journey to become a bright and beautiful feature in the northern skies, or if its 5,5-million year journey will end with it being pulled apart. The comet will pass within 730...