View a gallery of notable comets

Find which comets are currently visible in the night sky

Incorporating sightings reported in the Comet Observation database and information from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this list provides a finder chart, star map, tracker, simulated orbit, and key properties for each comet, all viewable based on a user's input position on Earth.

Explore a guide to observing comets

Binoculars or telescopes can be used to see vivid tails, glowing comas, and brief bursts of brightness from these celestial objects. For photography, a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a wide-aperture lens, long exposure settings, and accessories such as tripods and star trackers is recommended.

Visualize the anatomy of a comet

The solid nucleus holds the frozen molecules, which are heated into a gaseous state once the comet is within three times Earth's distance from the sun. The surrounding coma, from which comets get their name, is a spherical cloud that can grow larger than Jupiter, from which tails develop.

There may be over one trillion comets in the Kuiper Belt

Named after Gerard Kuiper, who theorized the existence of a band of icy objects beyond Neptune in 1951, direct evidence for its existence did not arrive until 1992, when the first trans-Neptunian object, besides Pluto and its moon Charon, was observed. Comets with periods of less than 200 years originate from this belt.

Comets can be categorized based on their orbital period

Short-period comets orbit around the sun once every 200 years or less and are made up of Jupiter-family (less than 20 years) and Halley-type (between 20 and 200 years) comet subgroups. Long-period comets have orbits greater than 200 years, while exocomets originate in solar systems outside our own.

Read about the dangerous comet behind the Perseids meteor shower

Every summer, Earth passes through the debris trail of the Swift-Tuttle comet, producing the spectacle of the Perseids meteor shower. The phenomenon is a glorious opportunity for amateur stargazers, but astronomers have long noted the comet's orbit...

NASA's Stardust mission collected and returned samples from a comet

Launched in 1999, the spacecraft traveled to comet Wild 2 and captured more than 10,000 dust particles from its coma using a tennis racket-like mesh covered in aerogel. It also took pictures of the comet before returning to Earth and releasing the collection canister during its 2006 flyby.

In 1994, fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter

Hubble captured the collisions, which created massive black impact sites visible from space. It represented the first time scientists could prepare for, and observe, an interplanetary collision in real time, allowing them to gather valuable information about Jupiter's atmosphere.

View a gallery of neutron stars and related phenomena captured by Chandra

Launched on July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is one of NASA's "Great Observatories" and has captured high-energy astronomical phenomena, including neutron stars and their surrounding nebulae, which are composed of the outer stellar layers expelled by their predecessors. Data from other observatories, including Hubble, help produce spectacular composite images.

Halley's comet is named after the astronomer who predicted its next appearance

Edmund Halley realized that historical accounts of a celestial object passing in the night sky in 1531 and 1607 referred to the same object he observed in 1682. By applying Newtonian mechanics to his observational data, he calculated its orbit and accurately predicted its return in 1758.

As of 2025, scientific evidence strongly supports 3I/ATLAS being a comet

Claims of alien technology would require the celestial object to transmit measurable technological signals, which were not detected by the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. Previous telescope observations identified that 3I/ATLAS's chemical composition, structure, and orbital characteristics are consistent with those of an interstellar comet.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

The ancient Greeks and Romans viewed comets and meteors as divine omens

Both considered the appearance of a comet or its fragments as a precursor to significant events, such as the birth of a notable figure or the death of a ruler. One observed in 44 BCE was believed to be a sign of the deification of Julius Caesar after his assassination.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Explore a gallery of space-based images and animations of Earth

This collection compiles shots of well-known locations, such as US national parks, and natural features, including aurora borealis and fall foliage, to provide a high-level view of Earth's surface.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

A 101 on the science and history of meteor showers

Bits of rock, ice, and dust flying through space called meteors burn up in a spectacular display when they hit our atmosphere 60 miles up at an average of 30,000 mph. Some of these are isolated objects, but others are recurring phenomena caused by...

Ten underrated astronomy studies from 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope understandably received a lot of coverage in 2022. This astrophysicist wants to highlight ten major studies published last year you might have missed.

Shooting stars, or meteors, are fragments of asteroids and comets that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating streaks in the sky called meteor showers.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

O’Keeffe made more than 2,000 pieces of art in her lifetime

See an interactive timeline that provides insight into just how prolific the artist was. Differentiated by year, the visualization shows when she was particularly active, and allows you to see the artwork from each year. Below is "Oriental Poppies" from 1928.

View a gallery of diagrams for each volcano type with glossaries

The three major types of volcanoes—cinder cone, composite, and shield—each exhibit unique, lesser-known subterranean and surface features, including lava bombs, lahars, and spatter. Other types of volcanoes include lava domes, calderas, fissure volcanoes, and Maars and tuff rings.

A rich archive of the visual imagination of the Cold War era

The blog aggregates art, design, fashion, and technology from the atomic and space age, spanning mid-century American futurism and its Soviet counterpart. The content has a broad range: escape pods from a B-58 bomber sit alongside Tour de France caravan vehicles and unidentified industrial designs.

See a collection of LIFE's most iconic photos in history

Famous images, like a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II, are each shared with context in this article. See some of history's most famous moments from a unique point of view, including photos of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and Muhammad Ali.

View a list of the worst nuclear meltdowns before 2013

Nuclear meltdowns occur when a reactor overheats and radioactive materials leach into the surrounding environment. While rare, the reasons for each occurrence—as detailed in this piece—can help establish new safety protocols for future reactors.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

See a gallery of winning photos from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards for 2025

The overall winner was “Ghost Town Visitor," which depicts an extremely rare brown hyena visiting an abandoned mining building in Kolmanskop, Namibia, by South African photographer Wim van den Heever. Other amazing shots include "Orphan of the Road," showing a longhorn beetle observing large machinery, and "Survival Purse," featuring the egg case of a swell shark.

See a gallery of the early years of CES

This gallery showcases rare photos from the early decades of CES, featuring early personal computers and the first handheld cassette players. See how the world’s biggest tech show began and grew.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Comiket, hosted in Tokyo, is the world’s largest fan-run convention

Comiket—short for Comic Market—is a semiannual, volunteer-organized fan art marketplace in Tokyo where up to 750,000 attendees experience self-published comics, anime, games, cosplay, and more over a span of four days.

Photographer catches a 'once in a blue moon' shot

A rare "super blue moon" occurred in August 2023, a phenomenon which will not occur again until 2037. Photographer Andrew McCarthy caught a stunning image of the larger-than-normal orb with an ironic twist: a JetBlue flight silhouetted against the...

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.