Imagine giant space rocks zooming through the universe, but instead of following the usual cosmic rules, they do their own thing. That’s exactly what scientists discovered—seven mysterious "dark comets" that seem to defy the known laws of motion. Unlike regular comets, these don’t have bright, glowing tails, making them nearly invisible. They also move in unpredictable ways, as if something unknown is influencing their paths. Some experts think they might be covered in strange materials that absorb light, while others believe unseen forces could be at play. Whatever the reason, these rogue comets are rewriting what we thought we knew about space! Credit:
Comet Tails: By NASA Goddard / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Insights_on_Comet_Tails_Are_Blowing_in_the_Solar_Wind_2WQGyAUUvMs.webm
from Earth to Asteroid Bennu: By NASA Goddard / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Slingshot_from_Earth_to_Asteroid_Bennu_svq4-Kf4K2E.webm
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0:
a comet passing a star: By Astronomy Simulations / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simulation_of_a_comet_passing_a_star.webm
Vesta asteroid: By NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/DLR., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_the_Vesta_asteroid.ogv
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
ESOcast 167: By ESA/Hubble - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1820a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ESOcast_167.webm
Orbit in exile: By ESO/L. Calçada - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1814d/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orbit_in_exile_2004_EW95.webm
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/:
Solar plasma: By EUHFORIA/J. Pomoell - https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/06/Solar_plasma_flying_through_the_Solar_System, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_plasma_flying_through_the_Solar_System_ESA498764.webm
Gaia’s asteroid discoveries: By ESA/Gaia/DPAC – CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music copyright: Encore 5 by Christophe Goze, audionetwork.com - https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2019/06/Gaia_s_asteroid_discoveries, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaia%E2%80%99s_asteroid_discoveries_ESA422763.webm
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Comet Tails: By NASA Goddard / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Insights_on_Comet_Tails_Are_Blowing_in_the_Solar_Wind_2WQGyAUUvMs.webm
from Earth to Asteroid Bennu: By NASA Goddard / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Slingshot_from_Earth_to_Asteroid_Bennu_svq4-Kf4K2E.webm
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0:
a comet passing a star: By Astronomy Simulations / YouTube, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simulation_of_a_comet_passing_a_star.webm
Vesta asteroid: By NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/DLR., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_of_the_Vesta_asteroid.ogv
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
ESOcast 167: By ESA/Hubble - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1820a/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ESOcast_167.webm
Orbit in exile: By ESO/L. Calçada - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1814d/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orbit_in_exile_2004_EW95.webm
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/:
Solar plasma: By EUHFORIA/J. Pomoell - https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/06/Solar_plasma_flying_through_the_Solar_System, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_plasma_flying_through_the_Solar_System_ESA498764.webm
Gaia’s asteroid discoveries: By ESA/Gaia/DPAC – CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music copyright: Encore 5 by Christophe Goze, audionetwork.com - https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2019/06/Gaia_s_asteroid_discoveries, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaia%E2%80%99s_asteroid_discoveries_ESA422763.webm
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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https://www.eastnews.ru
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00You're standing next to a huge floor-to-ceiling window of the spaceship-slash-wandering city
00:06you've been calling your home for a dozen years, along with a few hundred other people.
00:11You're watching a fascinating object nearing your spaceship, wondering if it'll bring
00:15an end to this journey and your life.
00:18It looks like an asteroid, but acts like a comet, moving as if something is pushing it.
00:24Can it be the engine created by another space civilization?
00:27Are you doomed, or are you about to have contact with a different kind of intelligence?
00:32Now let's leave this post-apocalyptic fantasy and take a closer look at these space invaders
00:38called dark comets.
00:40The most intriguing question is obviously, what makes them move?
00:44Most likely, it's some gas or material escaping from the surface of these space objects.
00:49Interestingly, until recently, no one has even been sure they existed.
00:54The first dark comet was discovered just a few years ago, and since then, researchers
00:58have identified 14 of them, including 7 new ones found just recently.
01:04The story of dark comets began in 2016, when scientists noticed something strange about
01:10an asteroid called 2003RM.
01:13Its orbit wasn't quite what they expected.
01:16It had shifted slightly, and no one could explain that shift by typical asteroid behavior.
01:22And they received tiny pushes caused by sunlight hitting an asteroid unevenly.
01:26Instead, the movement suggested that 2003RM might have been releasing material, something
01:33comets often do.
01:35But there was a catch.
01:36The thing didn't look like a comet.
01:38There was no tail, no visible gas cloud.
01:41It was just a tiny dot of light, like a regular asteroid.
01:45At first, scientists thought 2003RM was just a one-off mystery.
01:50But in 2017, a telescope spotted another strange object, this one from outside our Solar System.
01:58It was Oumuamua.
01:59It too looked like an asteroid, but had a path that changed as if gas were escaping
02:05from it.
02:06The similarities between Oumuamua and 2003RM made researchers think there might be more
02:12of such odd objects out there.
02:14By 2023, seven more had been discovered in our Solar System.
02:19These discoveries were enough to give this new type of object the name of Dark Comets.
02:24Now scientists have enough data to start noticing patterns and learning more about their characteristics.
02:30And so, they have identified two main groups of Dark Comets.
02:35The first group, called Outer Dark Comets, is larger, with sizes ranging from hundreds
02:40of feet to even more.
02:42They follow long elliptical orbits, similar to traditional comets that come from regions
02:46near Jupiter.
02:48The second group, Inner Dark Comets, is smaller, usually tens of feet across.
02:53These comets move in almost circular orbits and stay closer to the Sun, near planets like
02:58Earth, Venus, and Mars.
02:59The main question these days is, where do Dark Comets come from?
03:03Can they be the remnants of larger bodies that broke apart?
03:07These space bodies could help us understand the history of the Solar System.
03:11What if they had delivered the ingredients for life to early Earth?
03:15Once we study Dark Comets better, we might figure out if they contain materials like
03:19ice or organic compounds.
03:22And indeed, some researchers are sure that Dark Comets may contain or once have contained
03:28ice and played a big role in bringing water to Earth.
03:31According to a couple of studies, some asteroids in the Asteroid Belt, a region between Mars
03:37and Jupiter filled with rocky debris, might have ice beneath their surfaces.
03:42And this ice from the Asteroid Belt could have traveled into near-Earth space.
03:46In other words, it could be a pathway for water to reach our planet.
03:51So far, no one is saying that Dark Comets definitely brought water to Earth.
03:55But they might be another mechanism for moving ice from one part of the Solar System to another.
04:02The study also hints at a connection between Dark Comets and a group known as Jupiter Family
04:08Comets.
04:09These are comets whose orbits are strongly influenced by the gravity of Jupiter, often
04:13pulling them inward toward the Sun.
04:16This connection makes it even more difficult to understand where Dark Comets come from
04:20and how they behave.
04:23Now let's take a closer look at the differences between asteroids and comets.
04:27General asteroids are rocky bodies that orbit relatively close to the Sun, typically within
04:33the ice line.
04:34This region is so close to the Sun that any ice on an asteroid's surface would turn
04:39directly from a solid into a gas, leaving behind only rock.
04:44Comets in turn are icy bodies that form farther from the Sun.
04:48When they approach the inner Solar System, their ice starts turning from a solid to a
04:52gas too, creating a visible cloud called a coma or a tail while releasing dust and gas.
04:59Dark Comets blur these definitions.
05:01They appear as rocky asteroid objects without a coma or tail, but they have behavior typical
05:07of comets, and that's small non-gravitational accelerations.
05:12These accelerations occur when ice turns into gas, giving the object a slight push.
05:17After analyzing 7 known Dark Comets, astronomers estimated that between 0.5% and 60% of all
05:25near-Earth objects might belong to this mysterious category.
05:29And since Dark Comets likely come from the asteroid belt, ice is likely to exist even
05:34in the regions of the belt previously thought to be too warm.
05:39Now near-Earth objects like Dark Comets don't stay in the same orbit forever.
05:43The near-Earth environment is unstable, and objects typically remain there for about 10
05:48million years.
05:50Since the Solar System is over 4.5 billion years old, this means that new near-Earth
05:55objects must constantly replace those that are lost.
05:59Astronomers have used computer models to simulate the movement of objects under the influence
06:04of non-gravitational accelerations.
06:07They've traced the paths of these objects over a span of 100,000 years and discovered
06:12that many ended up in the same regions where we find Dark Comets today.
06:17Do you remember that Space Rock 2003 RM, which was the first to be called a Dark Comet?
06:23It provided a particularly interesting clue.
06:26Its elliptical orbit brings it close to Earth, then out near Jupiter, before returning to
06:31Earth again.
06:33This trajectory matches what scientists would expect from a Jupiter family comet, an object
06:38that was likely knocked inward from its original orbit.
06:41Most of the other Dark Comets studied, however, seem to have come from the inner regions of
06:46the asteroid belt, closer to Mars.
06:49Dark Comets are often small and spin rapidly.
06:53Astronomers often describe them as dirty ice cubes.
06:56All because these objects are a mix of rock and ice.
06:59And when they cross the ice line, their ice begins to turn into gas.
07:03This process not only causes those small, non-gravitational accelerations, but also
07:08increases their spin rate.
07:10And the faster these objects spin, the easier they can break apart into smaller fragments.
07:15The pieces that break off also have ice.
07:18And as they spin faster and faster, they break into even smaller pieces.
07:23This process continues until you're left with very small, fast-spinning objects.
07:28This cycle of fragmentation helps explain why Dark Comets are often so tiny.
07:33But it could also mean there are more of them than we currently know about.
07:38The Dark Comet research provides new insights into the distribution of ice in the Solar
07:42System and its potential pathways into the near-Earth environment.
07:46It also raises intriguing questions.
07:49For example, how much ice remains hidden in the asteroid belt?
07:53Or could Dark Comets have played a role in delivering water or organic materials to Earth?
07:59One of the most important points is that Dark Comets may represent a significant part of
08:04near-Earth objects.
08:06If it turns out to be true, it could mean that our understanding of the population of
08:10near-Earth objects, and their potential risks for our planet, is far from complete.
08:16The processes shaping Dark Comets, from sublimation to fragmentation, could be a major factor
08:22in the evolution of icy bodies throughout the Solar System.
08:26Luckily, these days, scientists have an opportunity to combine advanced modeling with observations,
08:32which can eventually shed light on that very elusive class of objects that could have clues
08:37to the history of water and life on Earth.
08:40That's it for today!
08:42So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:46friends!
08:47Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!