Asteroid Cruises Past Earth ... With a Partner! Posted: 5 months ago by AutumnLotus
A good-sized asteroid sailing past our planet right now turns out to be two giant rocks doing a celestial jig.
The setup, catalogued as 2008 BT18, was thought to be nearly a half-mile wide after its discovery by MIT's LINEAR search program in January. Nothing else was known about it.
Comments: 5 Score: [-] 388 [+].
Large Asteroid to Fly Past Earth Posted: 11 months ago by AutumnLotus
An asteroid that's likely as big as several football fields will fly past Earth next week. Astronomers said the space rock will be visible the night of Jan. 29 to amateur astronomers with modest-sized telescopes.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 261 [+].
Space Rocks Could Reseed Life on Earth Posted: 7 months ago by AutumnLotus
Asteroid and comet impacts on Earth can cause catastrophic extinction events. They can also bring life back, new research shows.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 299 [+].
An Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2036 Posted: 1 year ago by DemureArt
Astronomers have gotten a better handle on the limitations of asteroid-track forecasting in a new study of a potentially threatening asteroid called 99942 Apophis.
Comments: 8 Score: [-] 337 [+].
Long-Lost, Dangerous Asteroid Is Found Again Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
Astronomers have learned that a recently observed asteroid - one that could potentially hit the Earth - was actually first observed nearly a half-century ago. Researchers at the Minor Planet Center have confirmed work by SETI Institute astronomer Peter Jenniskens that the recently discovered asteroid 2007 RR9 is in fact the long-lost object 6344 P-L.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 221 [+].
Arecibo Observatory Astronomers Discover First Near-Earth Triple Asteroid Posted: 10 months ago by AutumnLotus
Once considered just your average single asteroid, 2001 SN263 has now been revealed as the first near-Earth triple asteroid ever found. The asteroid -- with three bodies orbiting each other -- was discovered this week by astronomers at the radar telescope at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 242 [+].
65-million-year-old asteroid impact triggered a global hail of carbon beads Posted: 7 months ago by AutumnLotus
The asteroid presumed to have wiped out the dinosaurs struck the Earth with such force that carbon deep in the Earth's crust liquefied, rocketed skyward, and formed tiny airborne beads that blanketed the planet, say scientists from the U.S., U.K., Italy, and New Zealand in this month's Geology.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 220 [+].
Racine Sophomores Discover Asteroid Posted: 11 months ago by dollyllama
The students at Racine's Prairie School will be able to name the asteroid, temporarily identified as "2008 AZ28," in about four years, according to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., the international authority on known objects in the solar system.
*Geez, I hope they pick a better name. Still, I'd be jazzed.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 254 [+].
German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper Posted: 8 months ago by AutumnLotus
A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated.
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 296 [+].
First Image of Approaching Asteroid Posted: 10 months ago by AutumnLotus
Astronomers have obtained the first images of an asteroid on course to make its closest approach to Earth on Tuesday, showing the space rock is lopsided.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 395 [+].
France Urges Diplomacy For Earth-Threatening Asteroid Posted: 2 years ago by Potfry
The news that an asteroid will pass close to Earth in 2036 prompted a group of scientists to recommend Saturday that the United Nations arrange an international space mission to deflect the threatening space rock. France, however, immediately issued a statement urging restraint against “a seemingly lovely space rock we know nothing about,” and claimed that the United States was behind the call to take agressive action.
Comments: 5 Score: [-] 46 [+].
Did our Solar System once have another planet? Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
The fiery demise of a fifth rocky planet in our Solar System might have led to a flurry of asteroid impacts that pockmarked the Moon and Earth billions of years ago.
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 142 [+].
Asteroid Impact on Mars: Probability Increased to 1 in 25 Posted: 11 months ago by mitzuzake
The chance that a rogue mini-world — asteroid 2007 WD5 — will smack into Mars has increased from 1.3 percent to 3.9 percent. In the event of an impact, the head-on collision would take place on January 30th at 2:55 a.m. PST, give or take a few minutes.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 203 [+].
Makeup of Potentially Threatening Asteroid Determined Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
The mineral composition of a near-Earth asteroid with a slight chance of striking our planet in 2036 has been determined for the first time. By analyzing sunlight reflected off its surface, scientists say the asteroid Apophis is a "good match" for a rare type of stony meteorite known as a type LL chondrite.
Comments: 3 Score: [-] 170 [+].
Asteroid’s Martian impact: What might happen Posted: 11 months ago by AutumnLotus
The possibility of an asteroid walloping the planet Mars this month is whetting the appetites of Earth-bound scientists, even as they further refine the space rock's trajectory. The space rock in question — Asteroid 2007 WD5 — is similar in size to the object that carved Meteor Crater into northern Arizona some 50,000 years ago and is approaching Mars at about 30,000 miles per hour (48,280 kph).
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 282 [+].
Quakes hold key to planet's past Posted: 2 years ago by AutumnLotus
Australian scientists are using the energy of earthquakes in the Pacific region to probe the deep structure of the Earth as David Salt reports.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 51 [+].
Google Earth in the past Posted: 2 years ago by Bornbad
Google skipped right past the third dimension and landed directly in the fourth (time) by offering historical maps on Google Earth.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 51 [+].
How to destroy a giant planet Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
Theorists have what they think is a good handle on how rocky planets like Earth form. Leftovers of star formation collide, stick together and eventually form a ball of rock. However, the formation of gas giant planets is more mysterious.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 138 [+].
Asteroid renamed for 'Star Trek' actor Posted: 1 year ago by DemureArt
An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor George Takei known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original "Star Trek" series and movies.
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 144 [+].
Earth: A Borderline Planet for Life? Posted: 11 months ago by AutumnLotus
Our planet is changing before our eyes, and as a result, many species are living on the edge. Yet Earth has been on the edge of habitability from the beginning. New work shows that if Earth had been slightly smaller and less massive, it would not have plate tectonics-the forces that move continents and build mountains. And without plate tectonics, life might never have gained a foothold on our world.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 248 [+].
Tunguska asteroid size downgraded by new computer simulations Posted: 5 months ago by mutil8or
The explosion that caused such incredible forest devastation at Tunguska a century ago in Siberia may have been caused by an asteroid only a fraction as large as previously published estimates, new supercomputer simulations suggest.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 332 [+].