There are several hundred comets that spend most of their lives among the planets of the inner Solar…
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a professional astronomer, searching through spacecraft data in…
Ancient people were afraid of comets – they were said to bring bad luck or foretell disaster. We…
The Solar System is full of material left over from the formation of the planets. Small chunks of…
Space can be a dark and lonely place, which is why Rosetta is travelling with a friend! When…
After travelling for 10 long years, covering over half the length of the Solar System and looping around…
It was a fairy-tale ending to an important chapter in the story of the Rosetta space mission as…
Rosetta, ESA’s comet-chasing mission, will wake up from a deep-space hibernation at 10:00 GMT on 20 January! Launched…
On 13 March 1986, ESA’s Giotto spacecraft sent back pictures of a black, potato-shaped object that was blasting…
By building LEGO® models of spacecraft, both scientists and students are able to have a better understanding of…
On 8 July, a fairly bright star, known as Delta Ophiuchi, will disappear from the night sky. However,…
Rosetta’s final Earth swingby
5½ years after lift off from French Guiana, ESA’s Rosetta comet chaser has returned home for a brief,…
The first images of Asteroid Steins taken by Rosetta’s instruments were derived from raw data and have delivered…
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is on its way to a rendezvous with a comet in 2014. During its 10-year…
Since beginning operations in 1996, the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft has spent its time staring non-stop at the enormous,…
An old friend returned home for a flying visit on 13 November. 44 months after its launch from…
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From time to time a bright comet with long, trailing tails becomes visible with the naked eye. However,…
On 4 July, a 370 kg copper probe from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft will crash into the icy…
Austria and Switzerland came out on top when the winners of the international ‘Rosetta Up Close’ photo contest…
This animation shows how most comets originate in an area beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto, filled…
Ceres is now known to have a width of about 940 km – about one quarter (one fourth)…
Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that have been left over from the formation of the planets 4.5 billion…
Earth is a moving target in a shooting gallery. Almost every day, a small chunk of space rock…
Every day about 50 tonnes of rocky material from space lands on the Earth’s surface. These rocks are…
In March 1986, ESA’s Giotto spacecraft flew to within 600 km of comet Halley’s nucleus. It sent back…
Most asteroids are so small and so far away that we can only see them as tiny points…
