Comet gateway discovered to inner solar system

A new study led by a University of Central Florida researcher may fundamentally alter our understanding of how comets arrive from the outskirts of the solar system and are funnelled to the inner solar system coming closer to Earth.

In a study to be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters this week,

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Gigantic asteroid collision boosted biodiversity on Earth

An international study led by researchers from Lund University in Sweden has found that a collision in the asteroid belt 470 million years ago created drastic changes to life on Earth. The breakup of a major asteroid filled the entire inner solar system with enormous amounts of dust leading to a unique ice age and,

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NASA blames bad weather for failure to warn about approaching hazardous asteroid

The celestial object flew past the Earth five times closer than the Moon and highlights the need to improve NASA’s detection systems.

Internal emails reveal that NASA discussed 2019 OK “because there may be media coverage” and only 30 minutes before it whizzed past the Earth.

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A Distant Asteroid Collision gave Earthly Biodiversity an Ancient Boost

About 466 million years ago, there was an asteroid collision in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The collision caused the breakup of a major asteroid, creating a shower of dust throughout the inner Solar System. That event is called the Ordovician Meteor Event,

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AIDA collaboration highlights case for planetary defence

Surprising results from recent asteroid missions have highlighted the importance of testing planetary defence strategies in space, according to scientists participating in the joint ESA/NASA Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) collaboration. The unexpectedly large crater on asteroid Ryugu created by the JAXA Hayabysa2 impactor,

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Stony-iron meteor caused August impact flash at Jupiter

Analysis of a bright flash in Jupiter’s atmosphere observed by an amateur astronomer in August 2019 has revealed that the likely cause was a small asteroid with a density typical of stony-iron meteors. The impact is estimated to have released energy equivalent to an explosion of 240 kilotons of TNT – around half the energy released in the 2013 Chelyabinsk event at Earth.

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Has another interstellar visitor been found?

An amateur astronomer has discovered a comet that could come from outside our Solar System.

If so, it would be the second interstellar object after the elongated body known as ‘Oumuamua was identified in 2017.

The Minor Planet Center (MPC) at Harvard University has issued a formal announcement of the discovery.

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A burst of asteroid activity in Europe

The next few days will see a rare convergence of asteroid-related activity in Europe, as planetary defence and other experts meet in three locations to coordinate humanity’s efforts to defend ourselves from hazardous space rocks.

Such intense levels of international scientific collaboration are driven in part by the fact that an asteroid impact could cause devastating effects on Earth.

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The day the dinosaurs’ world fell apart

By Jonathan Amos, BBC Science Correspondent

Scientists have a recording of the worst day on Earth; certainly the worst day in the last 66 million years.

It takes the form of a 130m section of rock drilled from under the Gulf of Mexico.

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Large search after meteor mistaken for plane

A land and air search was launched in Devon after a suspected meteor was feared to be an aircraft breaking up in the sky.

Numerous callers alerted police to the flying object during the early hours of Sunday.

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