Trending

Asteroids

Asteroids are space rocks thought to be the remains left over from the formation of the solar system. They range in size from tiny (the size of a car or so) to truly giant, with at least one - Ceres - gaining dwarf planet status. In our solar system, billions of asteroids are in the asteroid belt, a region around the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Others stray from this region, and can potentially post an impact threat to the Earth. At least one interstellar asteroid, called 'Oumuamua, has passed through our solar system. Learn more about asteroids here.

Related Topics: Comets, Meteors, Shooting Stars and Fireballs, Rosetta Spacecraft 

Latest Updates

An illustration of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test,or DART, as it approaches its target moonlet around the asteroid Didymos.

NASA's DART mission to smack an asteroid launches this week. Here's how to watch online.

By Elizabeth Howell published

There are live briefings, virtual launch opportunities and even a planetary defense campaign.

An artist's depiction of the DART spacecraft approaching the Didymos system.

NASA's DART mission will move an asteroid and change our relationship with the solar system

By Meghan Bartels published

For billions of years, chaos and the laws of physics have governed our solar system; next year, humans will take the reins and purposefully, in a calculated strike, adjust the orbit of an asteroid.

An artist's depiction of the DART spacecraft approaching the Didymos system.

NASA wants to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid, but don't worry. Earth isn't at risk.

By Chelsea Gohd published

Later this month, NASA will launch a mission to smack an asteroid into a new orbit to prepare for the possibility that an asteroid in the future might threaten Earth. But don't worry.

The Hera mission will arrive at Didymos two years after DART's impact.

NASA's DART mission has a sequel. How Europe's HERA will explore an asteroid impact aftermath.

By Tereza Pultarova published

The Hera mission will follow NASA's DART asteroid-deflecting spacecraft to the binary space rock Didymos and detail the aftermath of DART's collision with the smaller of the two asteroids.

DART team engineers lift and inspect the LICIACube cubesat after it arrived at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland in August 2021.

Meet LICIACube, the small but mighty spacecraft that will watch NASA's epic DART asteroid crash

By Doris Elin Urrutia published

The small LICIACube spacecraft will watch its robotic colleague, NASA's DART mission, smash into an asteroid and sending the footage back to Earth.

An assortment of asteroids that spacecraft have explored over the years.

The greatest asteroid missions of all time!

By Elizabeth Howell, Meghan Bartels published

An artist's depiction of the dinosaur-killing asteroid, which left a 124-mile-wide crater in the planet's surface.

Why is sci-fi so obsessed with asteroid impact disasters (and how to stop them)?

By Chelsea Gohd published

For longer than science fiction has even existed, humans have been fascinated with (and terrified by) the prospect of space rocks falling to Earth. But why?

An artist's depiction of the DART spacecraft approaching Dimorphos, with the larger Didymos in the background.

If an asteroid really threatened the Earth, what would a planetary defense mission look like?

By Meghan Bartels published

Someday, tucked away gathering dust in a nondescript warehouse, there will perhaps be a spacecraft waiting to be called to the launch pad, even as its builders pray it never flies.

An artist impression of Earth quasi-satellite Kamo`oalewa. Astronomers using the Large Binocular Telescope have shown that it might be a lost fragment of the moon.

A 'quasi-moon' asteroid companion of Earth that may actually be a moon relic

By Tereza Pultarova published

Mysterious near-Earth object Kamo'oalewa is the first known space rock made of what looks like lunar material, a new study reveals. It may have split off the moon in an ancient asteroid collision.

The solar system

The solar system: A guide to things orbiting our sun

By Charles Q. Choi, Nola Taylor Tillman, Scott Dutfield published

Reference Learn how our solar system formed, how it was discovered and the names of the planets, dwarf planets and regions of space that orbit our sun.

An artist's depiction of Lucy's solar arrays in the process of deploying.

NASA says a glitchy strap could be behind Lucy asteroid probe's solar array troubles

By Meghan Bartels published

NASA may be homing in on the glitch that kept a massive solar array on its new asteroid-bound spacecraft from properly deploying.

An artist's depiction of the DART spacecraft slamming into Dimorphos as observatories on Earth and a small cubesat watch.

NASA wants you to become a planetary defender with the DART asteroid mission

By Samantha Mathewson published

NASA is getting ready to launch a spacecraft to test an experimental method to deflect near-Earth objects, and you can participate in the mission by testing your own planetary defense know-how.

The DART spacecraft as seen inside a cleanroom before flight.

NASA will launch its 1st asteroid-defense mission this month

By Meghan Bartels published

NASA has lofted countless spacecraft into the solar system, but a mission launching in late November will attempt a unique feat: to slam into a tiny asteroid and slightly speed up its orbit.

In this artist's illustration, an asteroid passes close to Earth.

An asteroid barely missed Earth last week, and no one knew it was coming

By Mindy Weisberger published

Asteroid 2021 UA1, a space rock about the size of a refrigerator, made a surprise appearance when it recently flew past Earth.

NASA's DART mission will test asteroid defense techniques by conducting an asteroid redirection test.

DART asteroid mission: NASA's first planetary defense spacecraft

By Daisy Dobrijevic published

Reference NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission is the first-ever space mission designed to test planetary defense technologies in asteroid deflection.

What would happen if the worst-case asteroid scenario really happened? This is an artist's depiction of the dinosaur-killing asteroid, which left a 124-mile-wide crater in the planet's surface.

What would happen if an asteroid were going to hit Earth? A NASA scientist explains.

By Elizabeth Howell published

NASA has a plan that includes telescope partnerships and a brand-new spacecraft mission launching this year.

An artist's depiction of Lucy's solar arrays in the process of deploying.

Balky solar array still troubling NASA's Lucy asteroid probe

By Mike Wall published

Lucy's handlers have been working hard to diagnose and fix the problem, but it remains unsolved at present.

An artistic representation of NASA's DART mission.

NASA's DART spacecraft, humanity's first asteroid defense mission, less than one month from launch

By Chelsea Gohd published

NASA is less than one month away from launching humanity's first-ever asteroid-deflecting mission, known as DART, short for "Double Asteroid Redirection Test."

An artist's depiction of the dinosaur-killing asteroid, which left a 124-mile-wide crater in the planet's surface.

What happened when the dinosaur-killing asteroid slammed into Earth?

By Stacy Kish published

The asteroid that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago unleashed a catastrophic series of events.

An illustration showing an asteroid being pulverized to pieces.

Researchers want to 'slice and dice' deadly asteroids with rocket-powered bombs, new paper says

By Brandon Specktor published

Physicists propose a new plan to "slice and dice" incoming asteroids that could save Earth from a deadly calamity.