Solar System - Small bodies of Solar System Topics
Halley's Comet Returns ... in Bits and Pieces
2001 — April 6, 2011
The annual Orionid meteor shower peaks this weekend on October 21st. Sky watchers will see as many as 20 fast shooting stars each hour -- each one a tiny piece of Halley's Comet.
Anticipating the Perseids
2001 — Sept. 20, 2011
The 2001 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th. Will it be an extraordinary sky show like last year -- or a moonlit disappointment? This story explains how to see for yourself.
It's Not Over Yet!
2001 — April 6, 2011
Following one of the softest planetary landings ever, ground controllers have decided to extend the NEAR mission and gather unique data from the very surface of asteroid Eros.
Apocalypse Then
2001 — April 6, 2011
A violent collision with a space rock, like the one that doomed the dinosaurs, may have also caused our planet's greatest mass extinction 250 million years ago.
A Taste for Comet Water
2001 — Sept. 20, 2011
When Comet LINEAR broke apart last year it revealed what many scientists thought all along: Water in Earth's oceans could have come from outer space.
A New Comet
2001 — April 6, 2011
Last weekend an amateur astronomer peered through his telescope and found a new comet the old-fashioned way -- by looking!
Horse Flies and Meteors
2001 — Sept. 20, 2011
Like bugs streaking down the side window of a moving car, long and colorful Perseid Earthgrazers could put on a remarkable show before midnight on August 11th.
Gamma-rays from an Asteroid
2001 — April 6, 2011
Perched on the surface of asteroid 433 Eros, NASA's NEAR spacecraft is beaming back measurements of gamma-rays leaking from the space rock's dusty soil.
Meteorites Don't Pop Corn
2001 — Sept. 20, 2011
A fireball that dazzled Americans on July 23rd was a piece of a comet or an asteroid, scientists say. Contrary to reports, however, it probably didn't scorch any cornfields.
The Continuing Adventures of Deep Space 1
2001 — April 6, 2011
NASA's Deep Space 1probe, a veteran of more than one spine-tingling space adventure, is about to begin its greatest adventure yet -- a daring plunge into a comet.