It was inevitable: The face on Comet 67P revealed itself to the Rosetta spacecraft and the world.

"At about seven o'clock this morning, after more than ten years of travel, the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe went into orbit around a comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is currently about two hundred and fifty million miles from Earth," reports Michael Lemonick in the New Yorker. — Read the rest

Today, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft became the first probe to orbit a comet. Later this year, Rosetta's Philae lander is expected to touch down on the surface.

Alas, poor ISON. The comet that flew too close to the Sun on Thanksgiving Day appears to have suffered the fate of Icarus — if Icarus had been ripped apart by a solar flare. The video above, taken by space probes on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth, provides a great view of the comet hurtling toward the Sun and then disintegrating. — Read the rest

What happens when a solar storm collides with a comet? Back in 2007, a coronal mass ejection ripped the tail off of Comet Encke. (You can watch that happen in an awesome NASA gif.) Tomorrow, Comet ISON is due to fly closer to the Sun than Encke, during a much more active time in the solar cycle. — Read the rest

Cosmic Log has a terrific list of night-sky highlights for 2013. Some of them look interesting enough to keep me up past my strictly-observed 9 PM bedtime.

November-December for Comet ISON: Will ISON shine "brighter even than the full moon" a year from now?

Provided that the world does not end in December of 2012, you might have the opportunity to view a particularly impressive comet around Christmastime in 2013. The poetically named C/2012 S1 (ISON) will pass at a-safe-yet-great-for-viewing distance from Earth, after first passing close to the Sun — a combination that promises to produce a beautiful tail and fabulous comet-spotting opportunities, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. — Read the rest

Further evidence that the ability to remix scientific videos and images is awesome: Here's NASA's footage of the International Space Station rounding planet Earth to catch a glimpse of the comet Lovejoy, set to a piece of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the movie Total Recall. — Read the rest

Update: Lovejoy lives! The comet had a near-encounter with the sun, but survived.

From Space.com: "A newly discovered comet is set to make a death dive into the sun's atmosphere today (Dec. 15), and scientists will have a ringside seat to watch its fiery demise." — Read the rest

Mark your calendars. On October 16th, Comet Elenin—or, as it's known to friends, "C/2010 X1"—will make its closest approach to Earth. If you're lucky and well-prepared, you might be able to spot it. NASA has called this comet "wimpy" and says you'll probably need a clear night, a very unobstructed sky, and a good pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse. — Read the rest

In the new episode of one of my favorite podcasts, The Memory Palace, Nate DiMeo takes us to the roof of New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1910 where everyone who was anyone celebrated the arrival of Halley's Comet and the possible end of the world. — Read the rest

Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy can help you understand this miracle of the cosmos. His post on 10 Things You Didn't Know About Comets does include some things I already knew—the whole "comets are basically dirty snowballs" bit—but there's plenty of wonderful new-to-me-anyway knowledge to make up for it. — Read the rest

An amateur astronomer in Australia was the first person to report the appearance of this black spot on Jupiter on July 19. Anthony Wesley from Canberra wrote on his online journal:

It took another 15 minutes to really believe that I was seeing something new – I'd imaged that exact region only 2 days earlier and checking back to that image showed no sign of any anomalous black spot.

Microscopic diamonds found a few feet underground are evidence that a big destructive comet hit North America 13,000 years ago, scientists say. The LA Times reports:

According to the theory — which has its critics — as the comet broke apart, it rained fire over the entire continent, igniting the plains and the forests and creating choking clouds of smoke.

Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi has uploaded another episode of his terrific cartoon, Mighty Mouse. He says, "This week's Mighty Mouse Cartoon is loaded with all my obsessions."

Link

Astronomers have captured the first image of a comet-like tail behind a star. The star, Mira, is named for the Latin word meaning "wonderful." The tail is 20,000 times the distance between Pluto and our sun. Mira is hurtling through space at 291,000 miles per hour. — Read the rest

"Necessarium est autem veteres ortus cometarum habere collectos. Deprehendi enim propter raritatem eorum cursus adhuc non potest, nec explorari an vices servent et illos ad suum diem certus ordo producat"

[It is essential that we have a record of all the appearances of comets in former times.

Photographer Jamie Newman shot this fantastic photo of Comet McNaught's "extravagant tail" and fan of dust visible from Auckland, New Zealand last night. Follow the link to SpaceWeather.com and locate the 19 Jan 2007 archive (no permalink available) to see the whole photo and learn more. — Read the rest

Paul Saffo, my colleague at the Institute for the Future, encourages us to look to the skies this week for a glimpse of Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. (Image by Sheldon Faworski and Sean Walker of MASIL Astro-Imaging Team, created using a 14.5-inch Newtonian telescope.) — Read the rest

(Updated). Yesterday's Baby Jesus Interactive Head was a spoof. The Kentucky Creationist Museum was admittedly staid. For BoingBoing readers who want a little more action in their evangelical internet kitsch, this next round should suffice.

Christian Kaiju! Bibleman attempts to convert young souls by way of hot God-on-sinner conflict. — Read the rest