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Comets, often called dirty snowballs, may appear harmless, but their antics are far from ordinary. These icy bodies expel alcohol, collide violently, and grow larger than the Sun. They even cross paths with Earth. Twice a year, the planet passes through Halley’s comet, leading to remarkable phenomena. Yet, not every encounter is friendly. One comet destroyed a village, and others have unleashed disasters on a scale humanity cannot yet comprehend.
10. A Pre-Solar System Comet Landed On Earth
Scientists are fascinated by meteorites because they hold the secrets of the solar system’s past. When one was discovered in Antarctica, they eagerly analyzed the rock to understand its makeup—and discovered something extraordinary. It contained the remnants of a comet.
This comet, no larger than a speck, was older than the mountains, even older than the solar system itself. Formed from the same dust ring that would later create the planets, it drifted along the outer edge of this disk. The icy body was drawn inward and ultimately collided with the meteorite.
The collision obliterated the comet, but luckily, a tiny fragment was absorbed by the meteorite. The rock safeguarded this speck through the centuries and as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. With the comet’s original chemicals preserved, scientists were given an unparalleled glimpse at the materials that existed in space long before the solar system came to be.
9. We Pass Through Halley’s Comet Every Year
Halley’s comet may not be everyone’s favorite dirty snowball, but it certainly leaves an impression. Famous and awe-inspiring, it orbits every 76 years. The last appearance was in 1986, and those hoping to catch a glimpse must wait another 40 years (that’s the part that strikes a nerve). In the meantime, enthusiasts can marvel at the comet’s annual presence in the form of a breathtaking display.
Halley’s comet has left behind a trail of dust. Each year, when Earth passes through this cloud from April 19 to May 28, it triggers the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. The shower reaches its peak around May 6, with up to 40 meteors falling per hour. Again, in October, Earth crosses through the dust, producing the Orionid meteor shower.
8. Missing Lander Discovered Trapped Inside A Comet
Every space mission attracts a following, but the Philae lander garnered a particularly devoted crowd. The fascination stemmed from its one-of-a-kind mission: Philae was set to land on a comet.
In 2014, Philae hitched a ride on the Rosetta space probe to reach a comet named 67P. Upon arrival, the lander detached and plummeted for seven hours. The landing was far from ideal. Philae ended up tumbling into a cliff’s shadow, where its solar panels couldn’t recharge. After 57 hours, it entered hibernation.
Six months later, as comet 67P neared the Sun, Philae recharged and sent a brief message back to Earth before falling silent again. Nearly two years after making history and vanishing, Rosetta rediscovered Philae wedged inside a crack. The lander was upside-down, resembling a lifeless roach, its legs sticking out from the crevice. However, according to the European Space Agency, locating Philae brought “huge emotional closure” to its dedicated fans.
7. The Sudbury Basin Mystery Solved
Canada bears the second-largest space-made scar. Around 1.8 billion years ago, something collided with what is now Ontario, forming the Sudbury Basin. Shaped like an oval, the crater spans 60 by 30 kilometers (37 by 18 miles).
Hundreds of research papers followed, but the mystery wasn’t resolved until someone analyzed the chemical makeup of the rocks within the crater. The crucial clue lay in iron-loving elements. Earth pulls these towards its core, making them rare on the surface. When they’re abundant, it suggests that a comet or asteroid struck and embedded them in the upper layers of the planet. Asteroids typically bring more iron-loving elements, so this provides insight into which object caused the impact.
In this instance, it was a massive comet. Upon impact with Earth, it created a hole larger than the Basin itself—an incredible 150 kilometers (93 miles) across. Over time, erosion reduced it to its current size.
6. This Comet Spills Alcohol
When scientists first spotted the Lovejoy comet, it appeared typical: a dirty snowball with a tail. A year later, in 2015, Lovejoy passed by the Sun, and the heat triggered an unprecedented event. The comet began releasing ethyl alcohol, the same type found in wine. During the peak of its boozy show, Lovejoy expelled the equivalent of 500 bottles of wine every second.
This tipsy comet strengthens the theory that comets might have seeded life on Earth. Why? Along with alcohol, Lovejoy also emitted sugar and 19 different organic molecules. These substances are key ingredients for producing amino acids—the fundamental components of DNA.
5. The Dinosaur-Extinguishing Comet
When a massive crater was discovered in Mexico, scientists initially attributed the 180-kilometer (112-mile) feature to an asteroid that collided with Earth 65 million years ago. This impact wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and 70 percent of all other species. However, new theories are challenging the asteroid hypothesis. Some researchers now suspect that it was a comet that caused this catastrophic event.
The new theory gained traction after scientists examined the volume of material thrown up by the impact. There weren’t enough of certain elements to support the idea of an asteroid being responsible. However, everything fell into place if a smaller, faster object, like a comet, had struck Mexico.
Scientists are now split into two camps: Team Comet and Team Asteroid. The asteroid proponents acknowledge that the object may have been faster than originally believed but still support their asteroid theory. The Comet supporters, however, argue that the crater matches the characteristics of a long-period comet. These comets take centuries or even millennia to orbit the Sun and are among the fastest objects in space.
4. A Comet Massacre
Astronomers were never expecting to discover that comets traveled in groups. But in 2012, they made a surprising find. Countless comets orbit a star known as Fomalhaut, but that wasn't the discovery that really took them by surprise.
What amazed them was the dust ring around the star. Sunlight typically pushes such particles away into space, but here, the ring persists because the comets collide, continuously replenishing the dust. The thickness of this ring allowed scientists to estimate the number and size of the comets, as well as the frequency of their crashes.
Fomalhaut is surrounded by 83 trillion comets. Each day, about 2,000 of them collide, and their average size is 1 kilometer (half a mile) in diameter. When this discovery was revealed, it was fittingly dubbed a “comet massacre.”
3. An Airburst Annihilated A Village
Around 12,800 years ago, a comet struck and vaporized a village in Syria. The site, known today as Abu Hureyra, showed signs of destruction, but archaeologists didn’t make the connection at first. It wasn’t until decades later that other researchers recognized key details missed by the original team. They discovered that Abu Hureyra wasn’t just a single settlement; it was a town built on top of an earlier village. This led them to the realization that it was the only known village in history to be wiped out by a comet.
No collision took place. A comet shattered in the atmosphere, and a fragment caused the devastation. When such pieces explode, airbursts obliterate everything within miles, leaving behind nanodiamonds, melted glass, and carbon spheres. These remnants were found at Abu Hureyra, embedded in walls and tragically, within food. This indicated that people were present when the village was destroyed.
Before the catastrophe, the people were hunter-gatherers. However, the airburst likely wrecked the environment, ending that way of life. The remains of the town suggest the survivors adapted, shifting to become successful farmers.
2. A Comet That Cannot Be Explained
The definition of comets once seemed clear-cut. They were icy objects. Check. They had tails made of dust and water from the Sun melting their frozen surfaces. Tick. But in 2014, nature defied these labels. A comet without a tail entered the solar system.
C/2014 S3 was remarkably dry—about a million times less water than other comets—and made of solid rock. It was beginning to resemble an asteroid more than a comet.
Although the surface of this object wasn’t scorched by the Sun, which is characteristic of all asteroids, it did reflect light like one. On the other hand, C/2014 S3 followed a typical cometary orbit. It might be an asteroid that found its way to the Oort cloud, the domain of comets, before settling into a comet-like path. Or perhaps it’s a true tailless comet, or even a hybrid between a comet and an asteroid.
If that seems confusing, don’t stress. At the moment, scientists aren’t entirely sure what they’re observing either.
1. A Comet Larger Than The Sun
The Sun holds the title of the largest object in the solar system. But in 2007, a comet temporarily stole the crown. Normally, Comet Holmes is smaller than the Sun. However, for reasons still unknown, it began releasing dust and gas over several weeks. This resulted in a coma—the comet’s atmosphere—that grew larger than the Sun. By November 9, Holmes had expanded to a diameter of 1.4 million kilometers (869,900 miles), making the Sun appear slightly smaller.
The cause of this eruption remains a mystery. Even more puzzling is how a comet with such a small core could produce a coma of that size. The real nucleus of Holmes was just 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles) across. Unfortunately, due to the comet’s distance, astronomers couldn’t study it up close. A plausible theory suggests that Holmes fractured and partially disintegrated in space. Whatever the cause, the comet became visible to the naked eye, delighting skywatchers everywhere.
