Big 'dark comet' discoveries could be coming in 2025
Discoveries of 'dark comets' are expected to increase in 2025 with the Rubin Observatory's LSST survey.
In 2025, the astronomical community is eagerly anticipating a surge in dark comet discoveries with the activation of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. This development follows several significant finds in recent years, including the doubling of known dark comets in 2024, bringing the total to 14, not counting the interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua discovered in 2017.
Researchers are particularly excited about the observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time, as its high sensitivity and comprehensive sky coverage promise to reveal many new dark comets. These objects come in two primary flavors—inner dark comets, which are smaller and have circular orbits, and outer dark comets, which are larger and follow elliptical paths.
The significance of these dark comets extends beyond mere discovery; they hold crucial insights into the solar system's early history and processes that may have supported the development of life on Earth, such as water delivery via their icy surfaces. As the Vera C. Rubin Observatory comes online, it could potentially uncover even smaller or previously unseen types of dark comets, marking 2025 as a pivotal year for cometary studies.