Have astronauts ever seen asteroids or comets from space, either by eye, through a camera, or a telescope?
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$\begingroup$ Is this question mainly focuses on scientist on Earth or astronaut in spacecraft (e.g. ISS)? Both perspectives would result differently. $\endgroup$– not_PrinceCommented Dec 1, 2018 at 8:07
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$\begingroup$ "Scientist on Earth" observes asteroids/comets "from space". Make sense eh? Just to make sure you're referring to "astronaut". Chill geez ;) $\endgroup$– not_PrinceCommented Dec 1, 2018 at 8:55
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1$\begingroup$ @Boosted - what uhoh is trying to get you to see is that the question makes it very explicit that it is the view from space. Not sure how this could be misunderstood. $\endgroup$– Rory Alsop ♦Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 22:56
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1$\begingroup$ @uhoh I'm cool and I got it. It's unnecessary to extend the issue here. $\endgroup$– not_PrinceCommented Dec 2, 2018 at 14:31
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2 Answers
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Yes.
The crew of the International Space Station enjoyed a front seat view of the Lovejoy Comet as they flew over the Southern Hemisphere. The Expedition 30 crew captured video footage of the comet from aboard the space station as part of Crew Earth Observations. Astronaut Dan Burbank described the sight as, "the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space."
reference (December 2011)
Comet ISON
Reference (December 2013)
The severely over-hyped Comet Kohoutek was observed from Skylab. This is a sketch from visual observation made by one of the crew.
Reference (December 1973)
December seems to be the month for observing comets from space stations
answered Dec 1, 2018 at 14:44
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1$\begingroup$ I think the first pic in the answer is a still from that video. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 15:08
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1$\begingroup$ The Skylab data link is super interesting, and hand-drawn notes of visual observation is a great find! fyi I've just asked How did Skylab's electrographic camera work? $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Dec 1, 2018 at 22:59
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1$\begingroup$ Skylab gets overlooked a lot, but it was pretty amazing. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 2, 2018 at 0:24
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$\begingroup$ Here's Terry Lovejoy's tweet about the comet that may be visible in next week or two twitter.com/TerryLovejoy66/status/1067914174338985985 Sky and Telescope: skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/… just fyi $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Dec 7, 2018 at 5:58
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1$\begingroup$ That's beautiful and makes a very nice addition, thank you! I added a "GIF" label since some users may have GIFs disabled by default in their browser (to avoid advertising). $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Dec 1, 2018 at 22:22