asteroids

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Asteroid 2024 YR4 Jumps to Top of Impact Risk Lists

There's a 1.3% chance it will hit Earth in 2032

(Newser) - NASA's successful experiment in knocking an asteroid off course could come in handy in 2032. Astronomers say an asteroid identified just after Christmas has a 1.3% chance of hitting Earth on Dec. 22, 2032, the New York Times reports. The asteroid, named 2024 YR4, is between 130 and...

Are We All Aliens? Asteroid Samples Yield Ingredients of Life

Bennu samples also indicate it was part of an ancient water world

(Newser) - Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were...

Tonight Could Bring Some of 2024's Final Fireballs

Annual Geminids meteor shower is set to peak on Friday evening

(Newser) - The Geminids—among the few major meteor showers to come from asteroids—peak on Friday, one of the year's last chances to see fireballs in the sky. The shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow, likely due to the unusual origin material, said Sally Brummel, planetarium...

Asteroids Could Become Astronaut Food
Scientists to Future
Astronauts: Eat Rocks
NEW STUDY
Oct 18, 2024 10:41 AM CDT

Scientists to Future Astronauts: Eat Rocks

Organic compounds from asteroids could be fed to microbes, creating 'edible biomass'

(Newser) - Scientists are slowly tackling the roadblocks to human life in space, including how to breathe without oxygen , how to build without bricks , and how to find food where there is none. In terms of the latter, a team from Canada's Western University has come up with what they say...

Spacecraft Launched for 'Crash Scene Investigation'

Hera will take a close look at asteroid rammed by NASA spacecraft 2 years ago

(Newser) - A spacecraft blasted off Monday to investigate the scene of a cosmic crash. The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft rocketed away on a two-year journey to the small, harmless asteroid rammed by NASA two years ago in a dress rehearsal for the day a killer space rock threatens Earth,...

Earth Will Get a Second 'Mini-Moon' for 2 Months

Small object known as a mini-moon will be temporarily captured in our orbit

(Newser) - The Earth is getting a temporary "mini-moon" for about two months starting later this month. The mini-moon—that's the official astronomical designation—is actually a small asteroid, about 33 feet long, that will be pulled into the Earth's orbit from September 29 to November 25, reports the...

Asteroid Detected Hours Before Earth Impact

It's only the 9th time this has happened

(Newser) - A small asteroid discovered on Wednesday harmlessly burned up in Earth's atmosphere the same day, NASA said. The asteroid—about 3 feet across—was spotted by astronomers in Arizona and broke apart over the coast of the Philippines hours after the discovery. This space rock, dubbed 2024 RW1, is...

Apophis Is Coming, and Scientists Are Scrambling
Apophis
Is Coming,
and Scientists
Are Scrambling
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 10, 2024 6:00 AM CDT

Apophis Is Coming, and Scientists Are Scrambling

They have a short window of 4-plus years to plan excursion to asteroid whizzing by Earth

(Newser) - Apophis will not be a surprise visitor—the large asteroid will come close to Earth on April 13, 2029, which just happens to be Friday the 13th, notes the Washington Post . And while nearly five years may sound like plenty of time for scientists to figure out how to get...

NASA Has Successfully Nudged an Asteroid
NASA Did a Number
On the Asteroid It Hit
UPDATED
Mar 20, 2024 9:55 AM CDT

NASA Did a Number On the Asteroid It Hit

Dimorphos' shape was changed, in addition to its orbit time, a new study finds

(Newser) - It's safe to say NASA's test of whether an asteroid could be nudged off a collision path with Earth was a success. The DART spacecraft's impact with the asteroid Dimorphos not only shaved 33 minutes and 15 seconds off the time it takes to circle its parent...

NASA Hits the Jackpot on Its 'Rubble Return Goal'

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned double the expected samples from asteroid Bennu

(Newser) - NASA finally has counted up all the asteroid samples returned by a spacecraft last fall—and it's double the rubble return goal. Officials reported Thursday that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft collected 4.29 ounces of dust and pebbles from asteroid Bennu. That's just over half a cup and the...

Asteroid Size of Empire State Building Is About to Fly By Earth

2008 OS7 will come within 1.7M miles of our planet on Friday, though experts assure that it won't hit us

(Newser) - An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday. But it's not on a collision course with us, as it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon, per the AP . NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object...

NASA Finally Unlocks Its Asteroid Sample
OSIRIS-REx Reveals
a 'Treasure Trove'
Jan 24, 2024 12:51 PM CST

OSIRIS-REx Reveals a 'Treasure Trove'

NASA finally unlocks long-sought asteroid sample, with some decent-sized rocks

(Newser) - After months of painstaking effort, the last two screws have finally been removed from the end of OSIRIS-REx's articulated arm, which grabbed a sample of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu as part of a $1 billion NASA mission, allowing scientists to look inside. They found a "treasure trove of...

NASA's Surprise Find: This Asteroid's 'Dinky Sidekick'

Lucy spacecraft discovers 'mini moon' during flyby of Dinkinesh space hunk

(Newser) - The little asteroid visited by NASA's Lucy spacecraft this week had a big surprise for scientists. It turns out that the asteroid Dinkinesh has a dinky sidekick—a mini moon. The discovery was made during Wednesday's flyby of Dinkinesh, 300 million miles away in the main asteroid belt...

First to Suffer From Asteroid That Doomed Dinos: Plants

Dust particles in atmosphere shut down photosynthesis for 2 years: researchers

(Newser) - It wasn't so much the asteroid impact that killed 75% of the species on Earth some 66 million years ago, but the fact that, for the following two years, little, if anything, could grow. That's according to research offering the first in-depth study of dust particles thrown into...

NASA Capsule Delivers First Asteroid Samples

Rubble was collected from Bennu in deep space

(Newser) - NASA's first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert Sunday morning to cap a seven-year, $1 billion journey. In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 63,000 miles out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote...

Chunk of Asteroid That Could Take Chunk Out of Earth Nears

OSIRIS-REx's sample from near-Earth asteroid Bennu to arrive in Utah on Sunday

(Newser) - There's a 1 in 2,700 chance that an asteroid known for its close flybys of Earth could smack into the planet in the next 160 years or so, which isn't very reassuring. NASA hopes, however, that the upcoming conclusion of a seven-year mission to retrieve samples from...

Asteroid Has a Small Chance of Hitting Earth on Feb. 14, 2046

NASA says DB 2023 isn't 'particularly concerning'

(Newser) - There's a very small but real chance that a space rock could ruin a lot of romantic evenings 23 years from now, according to NASA's Planetary Defense Office. The newly discovered asteroid, DB 2023, has a 1 in 560 chance of hitting Earth on Valentine's Day 2046,...

Asteroid Was Correctly Forecast, Only the 7th Time Ever

ESA gave people a heads-up, and UK sky watchers got a treat

(Newser) - The European Space Agency dashed off what turned out to be a pretty impressive prediction—and people who live near the English Channel and paid attention were rewarded in the wee hours of Monday. That's when a small asteroid streaked through the sky and put on a light show...

THOR Might Save Us All One Day
THOR Might Save
Us All One Day
Jun 5, 2022 6:00 PM CDT

THOR Might Save Us All One Day

The asteroid-hunting algorithm, not the superhero

(Newser) - Ed Lu is a former NASA astronaut with a PhD in applied physics, and he is worried about near-Earth asteroids—space rocks at least 460 feet in diameter that have been nudged by gravity into Earth’s neighborhood. According to the New York Times , only 40% of the estimated 25,...

Scientist: This Dinosaur Died on the Day of Asteroid Strike

Leg was among many finds at North Dakota site that preserved the 'death blow'

(Newser) - The asteroid that hit the Earth around 66 million years ago brought an abrupt end to the Cretaceous period—and to the life of a Thescelosaurus dinosaur whose incredibly well-preserved leg was found at a North Dakota site. Researchers say they can pinpoint the day of the dinosaur's death...

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