Comets are special entities. Ever since human beings started noticing the heavens, there were these periodic stars which grew bright and appeared to have tails. These were comets. In the eons prior to the scientific age, comets were viewed as signs of negative stuff that was about to happen to the people. There was an elaborate scheme of designating comets’ destructive events with the help of the difference in their appearances.
All this changed with Edmund Halley. He was this pioneer of science. Without him, Newton might never have gotten famous. It was with his financial aid that Newton was able to print his works and due to his probing that he thought of astronomical matters in the first place. Halley is best known for successfully predicting the cycle of a comet which returned after 76 years, which is now named in his honor. Edmund Halley was also one of the first people to make a comprehensive southern star chart.
Recently, the ESA sent an orbiter and lander to explore a comet which was making a grand appearance into the inner solar system. Comets are dim and boring when they are far-flung from the sun. However, bring them in close and you get one of the most brilliant celestial events imaginable. The layer of ice starts vaporizing, compacting into a tail and brilliantly increasing the brightness of the comet.
Back to where we were, this mission was the first one to send a lander onto the surface of a comet. The orbiter is called the Rosetta and the lander is called the Philae lander. It returned some stunning images of the comets. One of the images taken by the Rosetta spacecraft is given below.
Comets are not just intriguing to look at. They hold many secrets regarding life as well. Many astrobiologists and scientists hypothesize that life is brought to planets by comets in the first place. They are known to carry vast quantities of water ice and organic molecules. In the early solar system, comet strikes were a billion times more common than it is today. Constant comet strikes would have resulted in vast pools of water and organic matter being ejected into the Earth!
Comets have always had ties with the human race. Halley’s comet, one of the most well-known comets will return in the year 2063, having made its last appearance in 1986. Nobody needs telling of the beautiful power and appealing nature of true astronomical wonders, that are so abundant in our universe.
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