Solar Storms Smack a Comet
607315
Astronomers  have pieced together what  appears to be the first direct evidence that solar storms can wreak  havoc with comets, destroying the ion tails of icy wanderers&nbsp;in a collision  of highly charged particles.&nbsp;
646556
Planets form more violently than once thought, and many solar systems are strewn with dust from collisions like a blast that may have created Earth&#39;s moon, according to new findings.
155433
A computer simulation shows fast-moving fireball amplifies the damage done by a smaller asteroid impact, Sandia National Laboratories researchers conclude.
496268
SAN FRANCISCO -- A pocket of near-Earth space tucked between radiation belts gets flooded with charged particles during massive solar storms, shattering the illusion it was a safe place for satellites.
697573
A comet discovered earlier this year has now moved close enough to be visible without binoculars or telescopes by experienced observers under dark skies. It is expected to put on a modest show this month and into January.
694676
Hot widescreen action worth six months' shaglessness Electrical retailer Comet has confirmed what those of us who boast enormous plasma tellys already know - that when it comes to getting your rocks off nothing beats a bit of hot bloke-on-widescreen action.â¦
626561
An embryonic star, just beginning its life as the center of a planetary system, is apparently deluged with massive rainfall as icy material vaporizes and refreezes. Astronomers are observing one such star in a nebula about 1,000 light years from Earth with the Spitzer Space Telescope.
547480
HONOLULU -- Speedy solar storms carrying a billion tons of charged gas through space let out a thunderous scream before they unleash satellite-stopping radiation storms that slam into Earth&#39;s magnetic field.
411596
Astronomers plan to slam an armchair-sized &quot;impactor&quot; into comet Tempel 1 to see what&#39;s inside -- and possibly help future scientists determine how to keep such space rocks from colliding with Earth.
540675
The first solar-wind samples recovered from the crashed Genesis space capsule will be examined by researchers in California. The Genesis crashed earlier this month into Utah&#39;s west desert.
585883
PARIS  -- A comet or asteroid smashed into modern-day Germany some 2,200 years ago, unleashing energy equivalent to thousands of atomic bombs, scientists revealed.     The 1.1-kilometre (0.7-mile) diameter rock wacked into southeastern Bavaria, leaving an "exceptional field" of meteorites and impact craters that stretch from the town of Altoetting to an area around Lake Chiemsee, the scientists said Friday in an article in the latest issue of US magazine Astronomy...
486698
Detecting ions, or charged particles from either solar wind or comet tails, is one goal for the comet-chasing space probe, Rosetta.    Astrobiology Magazine -- The Ion and Electron Spectrometer (IES), one of three NASA instruments aboard the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta comet orbiter, successfully underwent an intensive commissioning exercise that qualified it for operation during the next decade...
685175
The high-speed impact will wallop the pickle-shaped comet Tempel 1 with energy equivalent to 4.8 tons of TNT, said Michael A&#39;Hearn, another university astronomer and principal investigator on the $311 million mission.
345944
An explosion on a distant comet, Holmes, is studied by UK astronomers using the Isaac Newton Telescope.
492471
Twin NASA spacecraft have beamed back spectacular views of the sun, helping scientists track violent solar storms that can fry satellites and overload power lines on Earth.
753691
Earlier this year, Comet Encke was passing a little too close to the Sun when a coronal mass ejection (CME) hit the comet and ripped off its tail.  NASA's STEREO spacecraft was watching and recorded a must-see movie featured in today's story.
728367
Astronomers have made rare images of the heart of a popular comet and revealed jets of gas spiraling thousands of miles into space.