Blog Archives

Asteroid’s comet-like tail is not made of dust, solar observatories reveal

A weird asteroid has just gotten a little weirder.

We have known for a while that asteroid 3200 Phaethon acts like a comet. It brightens and forms a tail when it’s near the Sun, and it is the source of the annual Geminid meteor shower, even though comets are responsible for most meteor showers.

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NASA releases agency strategy for planetary defense to safeguard Earth

To help guide NASA’s efforts over the next decade, the agency has released its Planetary Defense Strategy and Action Plan.

For three decades, NASA has engaged in studying near-Earth objects (NEOs), asteroids and comets that orbit the Sun and come within 30 million miles of our planet’s orbit.

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This is what would happen if scientists found an asteroid heading to Earth

Scientists have explained what would happen if an asteroid was on a collision course with Earth to emphasize the need for planetary defense. The hypothetical asteroid scenario illustrates how an asteroid threat might evolve over several years and the potential devastation such a strike could cause.

The team led by the manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object (NEO) Program Office Paul Chodas presented the exercise at the 8th Planetary Defence Conference in Vienna,

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‘No need to worry’: Odds drop newly-found asteroid will hit Earth

The chances have plummeted that a newly-discovered asteroid with the potential to wipe out a city will hit Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046, the European Space Agency said on Tuesday.

The asteroid, which is named 2023 DW and is estimated to be around the size of a 50-metre Olympic swimming pool,

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Newly spotted 50-meter asteroid tops Risk List

Valentine’s Day 2046 could be memorable for a number of reasons. Not only might you receive a card from an admirer you never knew you had, but you might also witness a large asteroid slamming into Earth and causing widespread devastation.

Hopefully the only delivery anyone will be getting that day is a card,

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Finding risky asteroids outshone by Sun

No one saw the Chelyabinsk meteor of 15 February 2013 coming. Just after sunrise on a calm and sunny winter’s day, a 20-metre asteroid struck the atmosphere over the Ural Mountains in Russia, at a speed of more than 18 km/s.

The relatively small rock approached Earth from very near the direction of the Sun,

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Curious comet’s rare close approach

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) today makes its closest approach to Earth before likely leaving our Solar System forever. At billions of years old and not seen since Neanderthals roamed, the green comet continues to intrigue as it grows an apparent third tail and unexpectedly – but intriguingly – failed to wow scientists when observed in x-ray light.

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Our Solar System is filled with asteroids that are particularly hard to destroy

A vast amount of rocks and other material are hurtling around our Solar System as asteroids and comets. If one of these came towards us, could we successfully prevent the collision between an asteroid and Earth?

Well, maybe. But there appears to be one type of asteroid that might be particularly hard to destroy.

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Possible naked-eye comet will visit Earth for 1st time since Neanderthals in 2023

At the start of 2023 Earth will be visited by a newly discovered comet that may just be bright enough to be spotted with the naked eye. 

The comet, named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), is currently passing through the inner solar system. It will make its closest approach to the sun,

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Construction Begins on NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter

A space telescope designed to search for the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that stray into Earth’s orbital neighborhood, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) recently passed a rigorous technical and programmatic review. Now the mission is transitioning into the final design-and-fabrication phase and establishing its technical, cost, and schedule baseline.

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