asteroid

Astronomers Spotted a Tiny Asteroid A Few Hours Before it Impacted the Earth, and Predicted Exactly Where and When it Would Crash

Humanity is getting better a planetary defense. At least from external threats from outer space. As long as they're just…

2 years ago

OSIRIS-REx Would Have Sunk Deep into Asteroid Bennu if it Tried to Land

A pair of studies published in Science and Science Advances have helped identify that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource…

2 years ago

An Asteroid has Been Discovered With Three Moons!

Planets aren’t the only celestial objects with moons - asteroids can have them too. They are usually other, smaller asteroids…

3 years ago

This Object is Both an Asteroid and a Comet

In astronomy, comets and asteroids are defined very differently.  Comets have a “nucleus,” usually made of ice and dust, and…

3 years ago

Scientists Figure out how the Asteroid Belt Attacked the Dinosaurs

How do you track an asteroid that hit the Earth over 60 million years ago?  By using a combination of…

3 years ago

Here’s the Asteroid Hayabusa2 is Going to be Visiting Next

Check out this image of asteroid 1998 KY26 from the Subaru Telescope. It's not exactly beautiful, but it's not intended…

4 years ago

Interstellar Oumuamua Was a Dark Hydrogen Iceberg

When Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk discovered `Oumuamua passing through our Solar System with the Pan-STARRS telescope, in October 2017, it…

4 years ago

The dinosaur killing asteroid hit the Earth at the most devastating possible angle

There are bad days, and then there are really bad days. 65 million years ago, life on Earth - especially…

4 years ago

Astronomers Discover a Tiny New Temporary Moon for the Earth. Welcome to the Family 2020 CD3

Astronomers are increasingly interested in Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs. There are ongoing efforts to find them all and catalog them…

5 years ago

Asteroid Ryugu is a “Fragile Rubble Pile”

When Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft arrived at asteroid Ryugu in June 2018, it carried four small rovers with it. Hayabusa…

5 years ago