Comets normally start out as dust, rocky material and ice, she said. When comets are far away from the sun, they appear dimmer and hard to spot. As they get closer to the sun and that ice begins ...

The vernal equinox is on March 20. Also known as the spring equinox, the Earth's axis is not titled toward or away from the ...

That’s just under 96% of the Earth-sun distance, which totals about 93 million miles. Its latest close approach—called perihelion by astronomers—came during its 13th orbit since it launched ...

During this circuit, our planet is an average of 93 million miles away from the sun, a distance that takes light about eight minutes to traverse. Astronomers define this distance as one ...