asteroid

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James Cameron's Next Trick: Mining Asteroids?

He, Google execs back new space venture

(Newser) - After hanging out in the deepest depths of the oceans , how does a Hollywood super-director top himself? By space mining, of course. James Cameron has teamed up with two Google billionaires, several ex-NASA officials, and some other ambitious investors to form Planetary Resources Inc., a space exploration company that seems...

Asteroid Flies Past Earth Closer Than Moon

NASA says we were never in danger

(Newser) - A 150-foot-wide asteroid whizzed stunningly close to Earth yesterday, passing within 143,000 miles of us—a hair more than half the distance from the Earth to the moon. NASA saw the rock coming two weeks ahead of time, and says there was never any danger of it actually hitting...

Ancient Asteroid May Explain Moon's Magnetic Mystery

Collision resulted in magnetized rock, say scientists

(Newser) - One of the moon's oddest anomalies is how parts of its crust have a magnetic field and others don't. But now scientists say they have a relatively simple theory for this inconsistency—a 120-mile-wide asteroid that smashed into the moon's south pole 4.5 billion years ago...

Asteroid Could Threaten Earth

Deflection mission may be needed to keep 2011 AG5 away

(Newser) - Astronomers are keeping their eyes on an asteroid with the potential to make life very uncomfortable for a lot of Earthlings 28 years from now. The near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5, a chunk of rock roughly 460 feet wide, will be close to our planet in 2040, and scientists believe there...

NASA to Harpoon Comets
 NASA to Harpoon Comets 
Dec 14, 2011 2:45 PM CST

NASA to Harpoon Comets

It's testing plan now with big crossbow on Earth

(Newser) - Why the heck does NASA need a 6-foot crossbow capable of flinging a projectile up to a mile and generating as much as 1,000 pounds of force? So it can test its designs for a harpoon meant to sink into distant asteroids and comets, of course. NASA is currently...

As Asteroid Zooms Past, NASA Nabs Images

Scientists see mysteries in grainy images

(Newser) - An asteroid passed closer to the Earth than any before it last night—it was just 201,000 miles away, making it closer than the moon —but to your average telescope it was nothing but a brief glimmer in the sky. NASA, however, has some pretty above-average telescopes, like...

Asteroid Swings By Earth Tonight

Want to see it? Good luck...

(Newser) - At 6:28pm Eastern time tonight, an aircraft carrier-sized asteroid will swing by Earth at a distance of 201,000 miles, which is within the moon’s orbit. That’s the closest an asteroid has come to the planet since 1976, but don’t worry: NASA has determined the space...

Giant Asteroid Headed Toward Fly-by of Earth

Astronomers call it a rare chance to learn about life's origins

(Newser) - We're just five days away from an aircraft-carrier-sized asteroid passing less than 202,000 miles from the Earth, a rare near-miss for an object this large, reports ABC News . The object called 2005 YU55 is a circular c-type asteroid—carbon-based, darker than charcoal, and the kind likely responsible for...

Earth-like Water Spotted on Comet

Oceans may have been formed by collisions with comets

(Newser) - Most of the water that fills the world's oceans—and makes up more than half of the human body—may have started out as comets, not asteroids as current theories hold, according to new research. Scientists using the Herschel telescope found that unlike other comets studied, the comet Hartley...

NASA: We've IDed Most Killer Asteroids Out There

911 of the 981 big ones have been found

(Newser) - You can sleep easy tonight. Or easy-ish. NASA today announced that it has identified more than 90% of the giant asteroids out there that could threaten Earth (think dinosaur-killing size). "We know now where most of them are and where most of them are going. That really has reduced...

Mysterious Light Dazzles Southwest

Object streaking across sky probably a fireball, NASA says

(Newser) - A mysterious blue-green streak of light was spotted moving across the sky over the US Southwest last night, prompting a flood of 911 calls from Phoenix to Los Angeles, CNN reports. There were no reports of impact or damage and NASA says it believes the object was probably a fireball...

Asteroid Has Been Following Us for Thousands of Years

So-called trojan asteroid discovered in Earth's orbit

(Newser) - It turns out that Earth has another neighbor besides the moon: a so-called Trojan asteroid that has been traveling with us around the sun for thousands of years, reports the Los Angeles Times . Plenty of other planets have their own asteroids—there are at least 4,000 in Jupiter's...

Bus-Sized Asteroid Zips Past Earth

2011 MD comes within 7,500 miles

(Newser) - Astronomers got a treat yesterday when an asteroid roughly the size of a bus passed within 7,500 miles of Earth—closer than many satellites. The space rock, named 2011 MD, was over the south Atlantic near Antarctica at the time of its closest approach, reports the Christian Science Monitor...

Asteroid to Zip Close to Earth on Monday

Space rock will come much closer than the moon

(Newser) - If you happen to be in South America Monday with a telescope, you can watch a newly discovered asteroid narrowly miss the Earth. Asteroid 2011 MD, between 10 and 50 yards wide, will come within 11,000 miles of the surface—23 times closer than the moon, the Telegraph reports....

NASA to Pluck Samples From Asteroid

It will take four years for the unmanned probe to return to Earth

(Newser) - A NASA spacecraft will reach out and touch an asteroid—and send pieces back to Earth, the space agency announced yesterday. The unmanned probe won't land on the rocky body, but it will get close enough to kiss the surface and extend a robotic arm to grab up to...

Big Asteroid 2005 YU55 Will Fly By Earth in November

 Huge Asteroid 
 Will Zip By Earth 
 in November 
in case you missed it
May 7, 2011 11:20 AM CDT

Huge Asteroid Will Zip By Earth in November

Astronomers excited about close-up look

(Newser) - A massive space rock will fly by Earth in November, and astronomers already are jazzed about getting a rare close-up view, reports Universe Today . The asteroid, named 2005 YU55, is about the size of an aircraft carrier and will come within about 200,000 miles of Earth on November 8,...

Giant Asteroid Now Stalking Earth Around Sun
Giant Asteroid Now Stalking Earth Around Sun
in case you missed it
Apr 23, 2011 7:00 PM CDT

Giant Asteroid Now Stalking Earth Around Sun

But Asteroid 2010 SO16 has an unusual 'horseshoe' orbit

(Newser) - Earth has a new follower: Asteroid 2010 SO16, which has joined the Earth's path around the sun and could follow it for the next 120,000 to 1 million years, scientists say. But there's one odd thing about the asteroid, which just so happens to be the largest...

Asteroid Barely Misses Earth

Rock small enough that Earth's gravity bends its path

(Newser) - An asteroid all but buzzed Earth on Friday, NASA has revealed. The asteroid, known as 2011 CQ1, passed just 3,405 miles above the Earth’s surface as it hung a sharp turn around the planet. That's the closest near-miss ever recorded, beating a record set by a rock in...

Scientists Spar Over Asteroid Apocalypse in 2036

1-in-250,000 chance that Apophis will hit Earth

(Newser) - If that whole end-of-the-world thing doesn't work out next year, maybe the jig is up in 2036: Scientists are now saying that's the year an asteroid previously thought harmless (after having been deemed catastrophic before that) might just plow into the Earth. A few Russian scientists are warning that Apophis,...

NASA Finds Bizarre X-Shaped Comet

Debris from extremely recent collision

(Newser) - The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a bizarre X-shaped object with a comet-like streak of dust behind it, NASA announced yesterday. Scientists believe the images represent an extremely recent asteroid collision, with a small rock, perhaps 10-15 feet wide, colliding with a larger, roughly 400-foot-wide one. When...

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