New minerals discovered in massive meteorite may reveal clues to asteroid formation

A team of researchers has discovered at least two new minerals that have never before been seen on Earth in a 15 tonne meteorite found in Somalia – the ninth largest meteorite ever found.

“Whenever you find a new mineral,

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‘Planet killer’ asteroid found hiding in Sun’s glare may one day hit Earth

Astronomers have discovered a giant asteroid hiding in the glare of the Sun that might one day cross paths with Earth

The 0.9-mile-wide (1.5 kilometers) asteroid is the largest potentially hazardous asteroid spotted in the past eight years and astronomers have dubbed it a “planet killer”

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NASA space probes document big impacts on Mars

By Jonathan Amos

BBC Science Correspondent

Space probes have witnessed a big impact crater being formed on Mars – the largest in the Solar System ever caught in the act of excavation.

A van-sized object dug out a 150m-wide bowl on the Red Planet,

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NASA’s Dart spacecraft ‘changed path of asteroid’

The American space agency says its recent attempt to deflect the path of an asteroid was successful.

Scientists have now confirmed the orbit of a 160m-wide (520ft) space rock known as Dimorphos was altered when the Dart probe struck it head on last month.

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New asteroid strike images show impact ‘a lot bigger than expected’

The James Webb and Hubble telescopes on Thursday revealed their first images of a spacecraft deliberately smashing into an asteroid, as astronomers indicated that the impact looks to have been much greater than expected.

The world’s telescopes turned their gaze towards the space rock Dimorphos earlier this week for a historic test of Earth’s ability to defend itself against a potential life-threatening asteroid in the future.

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Asteroid that formed Vredefort crater bigger than previously believed

About two billion years ago, an impactor hurtled toward Earth, crashing into the planet in an area near present-day Johannesburg, South Africa. The impactor-most likely an asteroid-formed what is today the biggest crater on our planet.

Scientists have widely accepted,

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NASA’s DART Mission Hits Asteroid in First-Ever Planetary Defense Test

After 10 months flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration – successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, the agency’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space.

Mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,

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DART team confirms orbit of targeted asteroid

Using some of the world’s most powerful telescopes, the DART investigation team last month completed a six-night observation campaign to confirm earlier calculations of the orbit of Dimorphos-DART’s asteroid target-around its larger parent asteroid, Didymos, confirming where the asteroid is expected to be located at the time of impact.

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Dust grains older than our Sun found in Asteroid Ryugu samples

Microscopic grains of ancient material that predate our Sun’s birth were found in samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 mission, according to new work from an international team led by Carnegie’s Jens Barosch and Larry Nittler and published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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Earth’s water may be from asteroids

Water may have been brought to Earth by asteroids from the outer edges of the solar system, scientists said after analysing rare samples collected on a six-year Japanese space mission.

In a quest to shed light on the origins of life and the formation of the universe,

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about near Earth objects in the UK.

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Tel: 01547 520247 mail@spaceguardcentre.com