Editing Comet (section)

=== Exocomets ===
{{Main|Exocomet}}
[[Exocomet]]s beyond the Solar System have been detected and may be common in the [[Milky Way]].<ref name="berk">{{cite web |title=Exocomets may be as common as exoplanets |url=http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/01/07/exocomets-may-be-as-common-as-exoplanets/ |date=7 January 2013 |publisher=UC Berkeley |access-date=30 July 2013 |last=Sanders |first=Robert}}</ref> The first exocomet system detected was around [[Beta Pictoris]], a very young [[A-type main-sequence star]], in 1987.<ref name="Space-20130107">{{cite web |title='Exocomets' Common Across Milky Way Galaxy |url=http://www.space.com/19156-exocomets-alien-solar-systems.html |date=7 January 2013 |publisher=Space.com |access-date=8 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916085824/http://www.space.com/19156-exocomets-alien-solar-systems.html |archive-date=16 September 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Beust1990">{{cite journal |bibcode=1990A&A...236..202B |title=The Beta Pictoris circumstellar disk. X – Numerical simulations of infalling evaporating bodies |last1=Beust |first1=H. |last2=Lagrange-Henri |first2=A.M. |last3=Vidal-Madjar |first3=A. |last4=Ferlet |first4=R. |display-authors=1 |volume=236 |date=1990 |pages=202–216 |journal=[[Astronomy & Astrophysics]] |issn=0004-6361}}</ref> A total of 11 such exocomet systems have been identified {{as of|lc=y|2013}}, using the [[Absorption spectroscopy|absorption spectrum]] caused by the large clouds of gas emitted by comets when passing close to their star.<ref name="berk"/><ref name="Space-20130107" /> For ten years the [[Kepler space telescope]] was responsible for searching for planets and other forms outside of the solar system. The first transiting exocomets were found in February 2018 by a group consisting of professional astronomers and [[Citizen science|citizen scientists]] in light curves recorded by the Kepler Space Telescope.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/comets-detected-outside-our-solar-system-first-time-696446|title=Astronomers have detected comets outside our solar system for the first time ever|first=Meghan|last=Bartels|date=2017-10-30|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rappaport|first1=S.|last2=Vanderburg|first2=A.|last3=Jacobs|first3=T.|last4=LaCourse|first4=D.|last5=Jenkins|first5=J.|last6=Kraus|first6=A.|last7=Rizzuto|first7=A.|last8=Latham|first8=D. W.|last9=Bieryla|first9=A.|last10=Lazarevic|first10=M.|last11=Schmitt|first11=A.|date=2018-02-21|title=Likely transiting exocomets detected by Kepler|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|language=en|volume=474|issue=2|pages=1453–1468|arxiv=1708.06069|doi=10.1093/mnras/stx2735|doi-access=free |pmid=29755143|pmc=5943639|bibcode=2018MNRAS.474.1453R|issn=0035-8711}}</ref> After Kepler Space Telescope retired in October 2018, a new telescope called TESS Telescope has taken over Kepler's mission. Since the launch of TESS, astronomers have discovered the transits of comets around the star Beta Pictoris using a light curve from TESS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://astronomy.com/news/2019/04/tess-spots-its-first-exocomet-around-one-of-the-skys-brightest-stars|title=TESS spots its first exocomet around one of the sky's brightest stars|first=Jake|last=Parks|date=April 3, 2019|website=Astronomy.com|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zieba|first1=S.|last2=Zwintz|first2=K.|last3=Kenworthy|first3=M. A.|last4=Kennedy|first4=G. M.|date=2019-05-01|title=Transiting exocomets detected in broadband light by TESS in the β Pictoris system|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|language=en|volume=625|pages=L13|arxiv=1903.11071|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201935552|bibcode=2019A&A...625L..13Z|s2cid=85529617|issn=0004-6361}}</ref> Since TESS has taken over, astronomers have since been able to better distinguish exocomets with the spectroscopic method. New planets are detected by the white light curve method which is viewed as a symmetrical dip in the charts readings when a planet overshadows its parent star. However, after further evaluation of these light curves, it has been discovered that the asymmetrical patterns of the dips presented are caused by the tail of a comet or of hundreds of comets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-s-new-planet-hunter-has-detected-its-first-exocomet-orbiting-an-alien-star|title=NASA's New Planet Hunter Has Detected an 'Exocomet' Orbiting an Alien Star|last=Starr|first=Michelle|website=ScienceAlert|date=2 April 2019 |language=en-gb|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref>