CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday. Don’t worry: There’s no chance of it hitting us since it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object […]
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ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA is hosting a workshop later this month to learn about options for low-cost missions to an asteroid that will make a close approach to the Earth in 2029, a move that has confused some scientists who believe a shelved smallsat mission can meet NASA’s needs. The […]
A ‘hazardous’ asteroid the size of a football is on course for a close shave with the Earth, a UK scientist has said. The object, Asteroid 2008 OS7, which measures roughly 900 metres in diameter, will pass by our planet on Friday afternoon – although there’s no risk of a […]
NASA’s asteroid-hopping Lucy mission is finally getting fired up in space for its trip to the never-before-explored Trojan asteroids, which follow Jupiter as it orbits the sun. On Wednesday (Jan. 31), the Lucy spacecraft will fire its main engines off-Earth for the first time since its launch in Aug. 2021. […]
A detailed investigation of asteroid Ryugu samples has provided further evidence that the organic molecules which gave rise to life to our planet were brought here by ancient comets. These space rock samples were returned to Earth by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, which visited the spinning-top-like space rock Ryugu in 2018. […]
An asteroid discovered earlier this month will reach its closest point to Earth on Saturday (Jan. 27), when it will soar through the sky at a distance closer to us than the moon. Astronomers first detected the up to 121-foot-wide (37 meters) asteroid, dubbed 2024 BJ, on Jan. 17. They documented their discovery the […]
Scientists accurately predicted a tiny asteroid’s impact over the weekend, showcasing a capability that will come in handy if a bigger, more dangerous space rock lines Earth up in its crosshairs. Early Sunday morning (Jan. 21) German time, a roughly 3.3-foot-wide (1 meter) asteroid burned up in Earth’s atmosphere near […]
Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the Cretaceous, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed paleontologists like us for more than 40 years. In the late 1970s, debate began about […]