The Brightest, Biggest, and Most Mysterious Comets

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P/C–G) is a pillar of studies on comets, thanks largely to its in-depth analysis by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission. The Jupiter family comet provided astronomers with key details that shed more light on the processes and conditions of the formation of the early solar system.

Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy detected Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on 17 August 2014 with a Celestron C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. He saw a faint, fuzzy object on the southern horizon. This was his fifth such detection of a comet, making him a serious comet hunter.

Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) was a long-term comet that traversed the inner solar system in 2014 in a unique path. The comet’s brightness and proximity to Earth offered astronomers and amateur astronomers a unique chance to view a celestial traveller close up. One of the year’s brightest, it was of interest to professional observatories and backyard astronomers.

C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) is the name given to an Oort cloud comet that was discovered in 2013 and had a close encounter with Mars the following year.

The comet is believed to have fallen from the distant Oort cloud millions of years ago. Its eventual arrival to the inner solar system meant that it passed close to various orbiting spacecraft close to Mars, giving us a unique glimpse of what happens when a comet has a close encounter with a planet.

The question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one of the questions that has frustrated mankind since we first looked to the skies and wondered what is out there. While our space exploration efforts have been relatively limited to date, what are the chances of us finding life on other planets?.

The search for Earth-like planets has led to the discovery of planets in different galaxies, but which of them are most suited to creating conditions where life could flourish?

You may be curious as to which of the stars in the night sky is the largest when you observe it. In reality, the largest star is invisible to the human eye from Earth, despite its immense magnitude. This star, which is referred to as UY Scuti, is so vast that it is difficult to fathom its dimensions.

In January of 2025, we were given the opportunity of a lifetime – to see a rare and newly discovered comet during the day – and without the need for special apparatus or telescopes. A new comet lit up in the skies, illuminating a trail behind it for over a week as stargazers all over the world looked up to see the rare and magnificent event. It was a jaw-dropping event, an old-period comet reaching its perihelion – the closest point to the sun – and burning our skies, and a rarity not lost on astronomers. Though it was only viewable by the naked eye for a mere few days, the event has undoubtedly garnered great interest and will be studied for many years to come.

The comet in question, Comet C/2024 G3, was only discovered half a year prior to the astronomical event, and its great outburst has been described as a one in a 160,000-year event. People in the Southern Hemisphere, from South America to Southern Europe and Australia, caught the best sightings of what is now defined as a significant astronomical spectacle.

Comets are often described as “dirty snowballs,” lumps of ice, dust, and rocky material. Though many comets are rather small, a number of truly gigantic comets have turned up that offer quite a bit of insight into the early Solar System.