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Have astronauts ever seen asteroids or comets from space, either by eye, through a camera, or a telescope?

uhoh
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  • Is this question mainly focuses on scientist on Earth or astronaut in spacecraft (e.g. ISS)? Both perspectives would result differently. – not_Prince Dec 01 '18 at 08:07
  • "Scientist on Earth" observes asteroids/comets "from space". Make sense eh? Just to make sure you're referring to "astronaut". Chill geez ;) – not_Prince Dec 01 '18 at 08:55
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    @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. – Rory Alsop Dec 01 '18 at 22:56
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    @uhoh I'm cool and I got it. It's unnecessary to extend the issue here. – not_Prince Dec 02 '18 at 14:31

2 Answers2

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And now meteoroid (i.e. burning asteoroid):

GIF:

bright meteoroid seen from ISS

(taken from ESA video)

uhoh
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szulat
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    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). – uhoh Dec 01 '18 at 22:22
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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."

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reference (December 2011)

Comet ISON

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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.

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Reference (December 1973)

December seems to be the month for observing comets from space stations

Organic Marble
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