Universe Today » Asteroids

Surprise! Unknown Asteroid Buzzed Earth

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:04:18 +0000

A previously undiscovered asteroid came within 14,000 km (8,700 miles) of Earth last week, and astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before closest approach. On Nov. 6 at around 16:30 EST a 7 meter asteroid, now called 2009 VA, came only about 2 Earth radii from impacting our home planet. This is the third-closest known non-impacting Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid.
(...)
Read the rest of Surprise! Unknown Asteroid Buzzed Earth (185 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Camera Network Spies Anomalous Meteorite

Nicholos Wethington — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:16:08 +0000

A network of time-lapse cameras set up in the Nullarbor Plain desert of Western Australia has allowed researchers to track a fallen meteorite to the ground, and enabled them to determine its original orbit and parent body. The meteorite has a composition different than that of other meteors, leading researchers to believe that it originates from a different parent body than most meteorites that impact Earth. The Desert Fireball Network, a project coordinated by the Imperial College of London, was able to track the meteor when it entered the atmosphere, giving researchers an impact location and information on where it originated.(...)
Read the rest of Camera Network Spies Anomalous Meteorite (441 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Asteroid Explosion over Indonesia

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:49:30 +0000

This has taken awhile to filter into the Western press, but an asteroid exploded over the town of Bone,Indonesia on October 8th at around 11am local time. Initially, locals called the police to report that a plane had crashed, or that an earthquake shook the ground, as reported in the Jakarta Globe. The Jakarta Post quoted Thomas Djamaluddin, head of the Lapan Center for Climate and Atmosphere Science Implementation as saying that the explosion was due to a meteorite or bit of space junk that had entered the Earth's atmosphere. As it turns out after further analysis, the explosion was due to an asteroid about 5-10 meters (15-30 feet) in diameter exploding in the air between 15 and 20 km (nine to 12 miles) above sea level. Nobody was injured as a result of the explosion, but it evidently caused quite a scare with the local population!(...)
Read the rest of Asteroid Explosion over Indonesia (455 words)

© nick for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asteroids, Earth asteroid tracking

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Giant Impact Near India — Not Mexico — May Have Killed Dinosaurs

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:52:10 +0000

A huge, mysterious basin off the coast of India could be the largest, multi-ringed impact crater ever found on Earth. And if a new study is right, this impact may supercede the one that created the Chicxulub crater off Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula as what may have been responsible for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University and a team of researchers have been studying a 500-kilometer-wide (300-mile-wide) depression on the Indian Ocean seafloor which was likely created by a bolide perhaps 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. Such an event would have triggered worldwide climate changes, including intensified volcanism, that led to mass extinction.
(...)
Read the rest of Giant Impact Near India — Not Mexico — May Have Killed Dinosaurs (507 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Asteroid Pallas is Also a Protoplanet

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:06:00 +0000

Some objects in the solar system are in a "gray area," and can be classified under more than one heading. Add the asteroid Pallas to that group. New close-up images of Pallas from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that the second largest asteroid in the solar system appears to be a protoplanet, as well.
(...)
Read the rest of Asteroid Pallas is Also a Protoplanet (492 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

More Water 'Out There:' Ice Found on Asteroid

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:43:03 +0000

For the first time, astronomers have confirmed that an asteroid contains frozen water on its surface. Analysis of asteroid 24 Themis shows evidence of water ice along with organic compounds widespread across the surface. The scientists say these new findings support the theory that asteroids brought both water and organic compounds to the early Earth, helping lay the foundation for life on the planet.
(...)
Read the rest of More Water 'Out There:' Ice Found on Asteroid (359 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Apophis' Odds of Earth Impact Downgraded

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:33:18 +0000

NASA scientists have recalculated the path of the large asteroid Apophis, significantly downgrading the odds of it hitting Earth. Using new information, the refined path indicates a 1 in 250,000 chance of impact in 2036, reduced from the 1 in 45,000 odds calculated earlier. The asteroid is expected to make a record-setting — but harmless — close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when it comes no closer than 18,300 miles above Earth's surface.
(...)
Read the rest of Apophis' Odds of Earth Impact Downgraded (465 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Understanding 2008 TC3 a Year After Impact

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:14:31 +0000

The first asteroid to have been spotted before hitting Earth, 2008 TC3, crashed in northern Sudan one year ago on October 6. Several astronomers have been trying to piece together a profile of this asteroid, pulling together information from from meteorites found at the impact site and the images captured of the object in the hours before it crashed to Earth. “We have a gigantic jigsaw puzzle on our hands, from which we try to create a picture of the asteroid and its origins,” said SETI Institute astronomer Peter Jenniskens, who worked at the crash site, "and now we have with a composite sketch of the culprit, cleverly using the eyewitness accounts of astronomers that saw the asteroid sneak up on us.” Their description? 2008 TC3 looked like a loaf of walnut-raisin bread.
(...)
Read the rest of Understanding 2008 TC3 a Year After Impact (551 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 TC3, Asteroids, Meteorites

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

NASA Tests New Robotic Lander for Future Moon, Asteroid Missions

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:58:28 +0000

The best way to study the new-found water on the Moon would be with in-situ instruments. Since humans won't be making any lunar landings for at least a decade, the next best option is robotic spacecraft. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is developing and testing a new robotic lander to explore not only the Moon, but also asteroids and Mars. This design is definitely next generation: it's bigger than any lander yet and MSFC is currently testing the all-important final of reaching the destination: landing.
(...)
Read the rest of NASA Tests New Robotic Lander for Future Moon, Asteroid Missions (220 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Craters on Vesta and Ceres Could Show Jupiter's Age

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:03:14 +0000

Scientists use crater distributions to tell the ages of planetary surfaces on rocky bodies. But how can the ages of gas planets be determined? Believe it or not, possibly from craters. Scientists from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome say that crater patterns on the two largest asteroids in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, could help pinpoint when Jupiter began to form during the evolution of the early Solar System. Their study modeling the cratering history of the two asteroids – which are believed to be among the oldest in the Solar System — indicates that the type and distribution of craters would show marked changes at different stages of Jupiter’s development.
(...)
Read the rest of Craters on Vesta and Ceres Could Show Jupiter's Age (553 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

NASA Doesn't Receive Enough Money for Mandated Asteroid Search

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:59:34 +0000

In 2005, the US Congress mandated that NASA discover 90 percent of all near-Earth objects 140 meters in diameter or greater by 2020. But they forgot one minor detail: Congress or the administration did not request or appropriate any new funds to meet this objective, and with NASA's existing budget, there is no way NASA can meet the mandated goal.

Does anyone else see a pattern here?
(...)
Read the rest of NASA Doesn't Receive Enough Money for Mandated Asteroid Search (532 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Near-Earth Object Has Two Moons

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:41:58 +0000

Radar images have shown that a near-Earth object is actually a triple system; an asteroid with two small moons. NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar on June 12 and 14, 2009, revealed the new informaton about Asteroid 1994 CC. It came within 2.52 million kilometers (1.56 million miles) on June 10. Prior to the flyby, very little was known about this celestial body. 1994 CC is only the second triple system known in the near-Earth population. A team led by Marina Brozovic and Lance Benner, both scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., made the discovery.
(...)
Read the rest of Near-Earth Object Has Two Moons (170 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Half Comet-Half Asteroid a Fluke? Nope

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:14:18 +0000

Back in 1996, astronomers discovered a strange object in the asteroid belt. They decided it was either a "lost" comet or an icy asteroid, as it ejected dust like a comet but had an orbit like an asteroid. No one had ever seen anything like the object, called 133P. Ever since it was found, astronomers have wondered if it was just an oddity — one of a kind. We now know it is not, and the discovery of more of these half asteroids/half comets means there is a new class of objects in our solar system.
(...)
Read the rest of Half Comet-Half Asteroid a Fluke? Nope (312 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Keep Track of NEOs with New "Asteroid Watch" Website

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:04:36 +0000

With the recent impact on Jupiter, a lot of people out there have asteroids on their mind and wonder if one could possibly hit Earth. Now, NASA and JPL have a new website called "Asteroid Watch" which will keep everyone updated if any object approaches Earth. They've also created an Asteroid Watch Twitter account that Tweet updates on NEOs, plus there's a downloadable widget as well.

"The goal of our Web site is to provide the public with the most up-to-date and accurate information on these intriguing objects," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL.
(...)
Read the rest of Keep Track of NEOs with New "Asteroid Watch" Website (103 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Heat-Shocked Diamonds Provide New Clue of Horse-Killing Impact

Anne Minard — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:55:05 +0000

California's Channel Islands, where heat-shocked soot and diamonds are suggesting a killing comsic impact. Courtesy NOAA and UC Santa Barbara

Archeologists have been divided about whether an extraterrestiral impact blasted North America about 12,900 years ago, wreaking havoc on Earth's surface and sending scores of species — including a pygmy mammoth and the horse — into oblivion.

New clues from California's Channel Islands should put any doubt to rest, says an international team of researchers.

(...)
Read the rest of Heat-Shocked Diamonds Provide New Clue of Horse-Killing Impact (378 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

A Benevolent Sort of Asteroid Bombardment?

Anne Minard — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:05:33 +0000

Celestial impacts can bring life as well as wipe it out, say the authors of a new study out of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

A case in point: the bombardment of Earth nearly 4 billion years ago by asteroids as large as Kansas would not have had the firepower to extinguish potential early life on the planet and may even have given it a boost.

(...)
Read the rest of A Benevolent Sort of Asteroid Bombardment? (491 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

2009 HC82: A Burnt-Out, Eccentric and Backward Near-Earth Asteroid

Ian O'Neill — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:23:25 +0000

The Solar System often throws up surprises for astronomers, but the recent discovery of a 2- to 3-km wide asteroid called 2009 HC82 has sent observers in a spin. A retrograde spin to be precise.

This particular near-Earth asteroid (NEO) should have already been spotted as it has such a strange orbit. It is highly inclined, making it orbit the Sun backwards (when compared with the rest of the Solar System's planetary bodies) every 3.39 years. What's more, it ventures uncomfortably close (3.5 million km) to the Earth, making this NEO a potentially deadly lump of rock…
(...)
Read the rest of 2009 HC82: A Burnt-Out, Eccentric and Backward Near-Earth Asteroid (439 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Coastal Formations Not Result of Asteroid Impact

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:11:02 +0000

Coastal formations called chevrons, large U- or V-shaped features found on coastlines around the world were originally thought to be evidence of ancient "megatsunamis" caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean. However, new research using Google Earth and computer models to recreate large wave action refutes that school of thought.
(...)
Read the rest of Coastal Formations Not Result of Asteroid Impact (446 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Were the Dinosaurs Really Wiped Out by an Asteroid? Possibly Not (Update)

Ian O'Neill — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:30:59 +0000

In 1979, the huge Chicxulub crater, measuring about 180 km (112 miles) in diameter, was discovered on the northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Scientists made the obvious conclusion that something rather large had hit the Earth in this location, probably causing all kinds of global devastation 65 million years ago. At around the same time, 65% of all life on the face of the planet was snuffed out of existence. The dinosaurs that roamed the planet up to that point were no more.

The timing of asteroid impact and the time of the mass extinction was too much of a coincidence to be ignored. When particles from the asteroid impact were discovered just below the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary, there was a strong causal link: the effects of the asteroid impact had driven the dinosaurs to extinction.

However, a problem with this theory has come to light. It turns out the Chicxulub impact may pre-date the K-T boundary by 300,000 years…
(...)
Read the rest of Were the Dinosaurs Really Wiped Out by an Asteroid? Possibly Not (Update) (481 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

How Will We Prepare for an Asteroid Impact?

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:36:10 +0000

If Earthlings discovered a large asteroid heading towards our planet, how would we react? But more importantly would the space agencies and/or world governments be prepared for such an event? "Mankind is now technically able to predict, sometimes several decades in advance, the trajectory of Near Earth Objects (NEOs)," said Frans von der Dunk, professor of space law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Additionally, existing space technology could deflect the vast majority of threatening asteroids." But even if a threatening object is discovered, von der Dunk said no mechanism exists for effective international decision-making on how to deal with a threat. To examine these issues, UNL hosted a conference on April 23 & 24, "Near-Earth Objects: Risks, Responses and Opportunities,” to look at the legal and institutional challenges of creating an international protocol of dealing with NEOs.
(...)
Read the rest of How Will We Prepare for an Asteroid Impact? (941 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Young Asteroids Age Fast with a Solar Wind Tan

Ian O'Neill — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:11:41 +0000

If you stay out in the Sun too long, you'll eventually get a suntan (or sunburn); your skin will also get damaged and it will show signs of ageing faster. This might sound like a sunblock ad, but the same principal holds true for the small chunks of rock floating around in the Solar System. Yes, a young asteroid's surface will age prematurely, but it's not caused by the Sun's ultraviolet rays, it's caused by the solar wind…
(...)
Read the rest of Young Asteroids Age Fast with a Solar Wind Tan (360 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

How to Keep Asteroids Away: Tie Them Up

Anne Minard — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:29:03 +0000

It may not look like much, but that drawing could save a life someday — or 7 billion.

David French, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University is proposing a new tool for the anti-asteroid arsenal.

(...)
Read the rest of How to Keep Asteroids Away: Tie Them Up (539 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Changing Opinions: Fireball Likely Not Part of Soyuz Rocket

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:56:52 +0000

Officials are now saying the bright fireball seen over Virginia in the US on Sunday was probably a natural meteor event and not part of a Russian rocket, a reversal from yesterday's initial analysis. Space.com reported that an official from the U.S. Naval Observatory believed the loud boom and flash of light seen in the skies over Norfolk and Virginia Beach was likely the second stage of the Soyuz rocket that launched Expedition 19 to the International Space Station last Thursday. However, U.S. Strategic Command has since reported that the rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere near Taiwan, on the other side of the world, several hours after the reports of the fireball. So both its timing and entry location rule out the rocket as the explanation for the fireball. But the investigation is continuing to determine exactly what the object was.
(...)
Read the rest of Changing Opinions: Fireball Likely Not Part of Soyuz Rocket (172 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Another Meteor? No, Russian Rocket

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:09:06 +0000

Residents of Virginia in the US reported hearing booms and seeing flashes of light Sunday night, and originally, it was reported to be another possible meteor. But now officials from the U.S. Naval Observatory say it was likely the second stage of the Russian Soyuz rocket falling back to Earth. Parts of the rocket from last Thursday's launch to the International Space Station would have fallen to Earth about that same time. "I'm pretty convinced that what these folks saw was the second stage of the Soyuz rocket that launched the crew up to the space station," Space.com quoted Jeff Chester of the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
(...)
Read the rest of Another Meteor? No, Russian Rocket (276 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Meteorites Found in Africa From First Predicted Asteroid Hit

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:17:32 +0000

Remember in October 2008 when Asteroid 2008 TC3 hit the scene – literally? This was the first asteroid that was predicted –and predicted correctly — to impact the Earth. Luckily, it wasn't big enough to cause any problems, and its path was over a remote area in Africa. It streaked into the skies over northern Sudan in the early morning of October 7, 2008, and then exploded at a high 37 km above the Nubian Desert, before the atmosphere could slow it down. It was believed that the asteroid likely had completely disintegrated into dust. But meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens thought there might be a chance to recover some of the remains of this truck-sized asteroid. And he was right.

Never before have meteorites been collected from such a high altitude explosion. Additionally, as it turns out, the assembled remnants are unlike anything in our meteorite collections, and may be an important clue in unraveling the early history of the solar system.
(...)
Read the rest of Meteorites Found in Africa From First Predicted Asteroid Hit (775 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh