Asteroids

Latest about Asteroids

A blue, green and white sphere is approached by an elongated grey and purple rock with a smoky tail

Collisions could increase chance of 'God of Destruction' asteroid Apophis hitting Earth

By Robert Lea published

A chance encounter with another asteroid could steer Apophis destructively close to Earth during a future passage.

Asteroids
planet earth with a bright white dot beside it labeled "2024 RW 1"

Tiny asteroid burns up harmlessly in Earth's atmosphere over Philippines. 'Discovered this morning,' ESA says

By Brett Tingley published

A 3-foot (1-meter) asteroid burned up harmlessly over the Philippines today (Sept. 4) after being detected just this morning.

Asteroids
A rock in space looks like it has a bunch of little rocks on it.

No, NASA's DART asteroid impact probably won't spark meteor showers on Earth — but maybe on Mars

By Keith Cooper published

Slower moving particles blasted out by the DART impact on the asteroid Dimorphos could create meteor showers on Mars — but it's unlikely they'll cause meteor showers over Earth.

Asteroids
DART's view of Dimorphos less than two minutes before impact on Sept. 26, 2022.

NASA's DART asteroid crash really messed up its space rock target

By Victoria Corless published

DART appears to have derailed its asteroid target from its normal evolution progress. The impact also made a crater.

Asteroids
An illustration of an asteroid hitting Earth, which takes up most of the screen. The impact causes a large fiery blast.

Dinosaur-killing asteroid was a rare rock from beyond Jupiter, new study reveals

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

Scientists have uncovered the "genetic fingerprint" of the dinosaur-killing Chicxulub impactor, potentially revealing the fateful rock's origins in the outer reaches of our solar system.

Asteroids
A box-shaped spacecraft with large solar wings swoops in toward a metal-looking asteroid in space.

Is asteroid Psyche actually a planetary core? James Webb Space Telescope results cast doubt

By Keith Cooper published

The presence of hydrated minerals, including possibly water-ice, might indicate an unexpected origin for Psyche, far from the sun.

Asteroids
This high-resolution view of the asteroid Dimorphos was created by combining the final 10 full-frame images obtained by the NASA DART probe's Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) and layering the higher-resolution images on top of the lower-resolution ones. Dimorphos is oriented so that its north pole is toward the top of the image.

Weird, 'watermelon shape' asteroids like Dimorphos and Selam may finally have an explanation

By Abha Jain published

New research finds why some asteroids have weird, watermelon-shaped moons trapped in orbit around them, contrary to what typical asteroid formation theories predict.

Asteroids
The orbits of 156 823 asteroids seen by Gaia and released as part of its DR3 release

Over 350 asteroids have hidden moons, Gaia space telescope finds

By Robert Lea published

By precisely tracking the orbit of over 156,000 asteroids, the ESA star-surveying satellite Gaia has potentially found over 350 previously undiscovered asteroid-moon binaries.

Asteroids
A small grey oval to the left of a larger rugged grey oval

NASA's DART asteroid impact mission revealed ages of twin space rock targets (images)

By Robert Lea published

Scientists have analyzed images of the twin asteroids Didymos and Dimorphous taken by NASA's DART mission before it impacted the smaller space rock, revealing their age and origins.

Asteroids
Earth is in the center of this image surrounded by tons of blue dots in a relatively disk-like shape that represent satellites. Toward the right of the screen, a dot is traced with a yellow line as it just barely enters the satellite disk while flying past Earth.

Asteroid Apophis will visit Earth in 2029, and this European satellite will be along for the ride

By Keith Cooper published

As Apophis passes closer to Earth than geosynchronous satellites in April 2029, the asteroid will hopefully be tracked by a new ESA mission called Ramses.

Asteroids
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