Impacts
Impact Craters: Why study them and can they help us find life elsewhere?
When we look at the Moon, either through a pair of binoculars, a telescope, or past footage from the Apollo…
DART Showed We Can Move an Asteroid. Can We Do It More Efficiently?
Like many of you, I loved Deep Impact and Armageddon. Great films, loads of action and of course, an asteroid…
If You’re Trying to Prevent an Asteroid Impact, the Technical and Political Challenges are Staggering
While preparing for the threat of an asteroid strike might seem like a hypothetical exercise, it's really not. The Solar…
Astronomers See the Afterglow Where Two Ice Giant Planets Collided
What would happen if two giant planets collided? It would be terrifying to behold if it happened in our Solar…
Did Powerful Asteroid Impacts Make Venus So Different From Earth?
A new study connects impacts during Venus' early history to its smooth and "youthful" appearance today.
Not All Craters are Circular. Sometimes They Look Like This
Impact craters are nature's signature from a more chaotic time in our Solar System's history. A quick glance at the…
Is This Nearby Asteroid a Chunk of the Moon?
The Moon dominates our view of the night sky. But it's not the only thing orbiting Earth. A small number…
Watch the Chelyabinsk Meteor Breakup in this Detailed Simulation
The people of Chelyabinsk in Russia got the surprise of their lives on the morning of February 15, 2013. That's…
Recreating the Extreme Forces of an Asteroid Impact in the Lab
About 50,000 years ago, a nickel-iron meteorite some 50 meters across plowed into the Pleistocene-era grasslands of what is now…
Should Planetary Defence Take Center Stage?
Throughout the Solar System, planets and moons bear the scars of a past fraught with collisions. The Moon, Mercury, and…