Solar System Wanderers
From asteroids and comets to meteorites on Earth
This journey emerged from 30 new research articles across Interdisciplinary, Astronomy & Space and Biology.
This topic surfaced automatically because research activity is surging — up +113% versus its 12-week baseline, across multiple disciplines.
Our solar system is filled with ancient rocky and icy bodies—asteroids, comets, and the meteorites that reach Earth's surface. These remnants from the solar system's birth 4.6 billion years ago hold clues to our cosmic origins and continue to interact with our planet in dramatic ways. Recent discoveries are revealing surprising connections between these wandering objects and Earth's history.
Scientists have just identified the rare type of meteorite that ended the age of dinosaurs 66 million years ago, while new missions and observations are blurring the lines between asteroids and comets. Understanding these small bodies helps us protect Earth from future impacts, trace the origins of water and organic materials that enabled life, and decode the early solar system's violent history.
The learning journey
Asteroid
Rocky building blocks left over from planetary formation
Comet
Icy relics from the outer solar system
Meteorite
Space rocks that survive the journey to Earth's surface
Flyby
How spacecraft study these objects up close
Hayabusa2
Mission returning pristine asteroid samples to Earth
Current research
See the latest discoveries driving this topic below.
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Research timeline in this topic
Open questions
Science still doesn't fully know:
- How do 'dark comets' form and what role do they play in delivering organic materials to planetary surfaces?
- What caused the specific carbonaceous chondrite asteroid that killed the dinosaurs to enter an Earth-crossing orbit?
- Whether passing stars in our galaxy's early history significantly altered the flux of comets into the inner solar system?
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