The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThe Aurigids originate from C/1911 N1 Kiess, or comet Kiess, a long-period comet that takes about 2000 years to orbit the Sun.
Long period comets (with periods greater than 200 years) are believed to originate from the Oort cloud, a spherical cloud of small bodies (comets), situated about 50 to 50,000 AU from the Sun (1 Astronomical Unit is equal to the distance of Earth from the Sun, or approximately 150 million km). It is thought to be a remnant of the original protoplanetary disc that formed around the Sun, about 4.6 thousand million years ago.