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Planet Mercury blackened by billions of years of comet dust

30 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Mercury’s dark, barely reflective surface has long been a mystery to scientists. Now, researchers believe that a steady rain of carbon over billions of years from comets crumbling near the Sun has coated the innermost planet.

Sun’s close encounter with Scholz’s Star

18 February 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using large telescopes in South Africa and Chile identify the closest known flyby of a star to our Solar System: a low-mass star system nicknamed “Scholz’s Star” that passed through the Oort Cloud 70,000 years ago.

Two families of comets found around nearby star

24 October 2014 Astronomy Now

ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile has been used to make the most complete census of comets around another star ever created.