Comets

Padma Yanamandra-Fisher

Early Life

Padma grew up in India. She loved space and science even as a child. She'd look at the night sky with her parents, and her dad would tell her stories about the stars they could see. Padma wondered what other cultures might say about those same stars. Would their stories be different to the ones she heard? It made her curious about the sky above.

Research Areas: Comets, Planetary Atmospheres, Planetary Rings, Polarization of light in the Solar System

"One of the wonderful things about science is that it is open and available to anybody."

Read more about Padma Yanamandra-Fisher

Francis Williams

Occupation

Astronomer, Educator, Poet

Year born

around 1690

Research Areas

Comets, Mathematics, Classical Studies, Education

"For the World is also bounded

A painted portrait of a black moon standing beside a table and chair with a bookcase behind him. He wears a formal coat and breeches. A world globe is on the floor, and a celestial globe is on the table. The man rests his hand on an upon book. A landscape of a small town surrounded by grass and a river is visible through the window.

This work by Unknown Artist is licensed under Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal

Near-Earth Objects

Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are objects in space on orbits which come near to the Earth.

An illustration showing a large asteroid approaching Earth in space. The Earth is depicted on the left side with its continents and oceans visible, while the rocky, cratered asteroid is shown on the right side against a backdrop of stars

Comets are large balls of rock, ice, dust and gases. They contain frozen leftovers from the early Solar System. Material that is about 4,600 million years old!