A dark object may be lurking near our solar system, occasionally kicking comets in our direction. Nicknamed Nemesis or The Death Star, this undetected object could be a red or brown dwarf star, or an even darker presence several times the mass of Jupiter. Why do scientists think something could be hidden beyond the edge of our solar system? Originally, Nemesis was suggested as a way to explain a cycle of mass extinctions on Earth. www.astrobio.net The solar system has one less comet. On March 12th, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) watched as a comet plunged into the sun and disappeared. Fierce solar heating completely destroyed the icy visitor from the outer solar system. Click on the image to see the comet’s last hours: The comet was probably a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail,Dirk Peeters.Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet at least 2000 years ago. Several of these fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most are too small to see but occasionally a big fragment–like this one–attracts attention. UPDATE: Several readers have noticed that the doomed comet was actually a string of doomed comets, plural. www.spaceweather.com