‘Complex Organic Matter’ Found on Asteroids
“Scientists have identified two unusual asteroids between Mars and Jupiter that shouldn’t actually be there.” via Unexplained-Mystries Image Credit: NASA Scientists have identified two unusual asteroids between Mars and Jupiter that shouldn’t actually be there. Discovered by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, the two space rocks are known as 203 Pompeja (110km wide) and 269 Justitia (55km wide). These particular … Continue reading
Chinese Researchers Propose Deflecting ‘Armageddon’ Asteroids Using Rockets
via Foxbusiness Chinese researchers want to send more than 20 of China’s largest rockets to practice turning away a sizable asteroid – a technique that may eventually be crucial if a killer rock is on a collision course with Earth. The idea is more than science fiction. Sometime between late 2021 to early 2022, the United States will launch a … Continue reading
Seven Asteroids to Zoom Past Earth this Week — One is the Size of a Skyscraper
BY SOPHIE LEWIS via CBSnews A “potentially hazardous” asteroid zoomed past Earth on Tuesday — and it’s not the only one. In total, seven asteroids are expected to pass by our planet by the end of the week. The largest of the asteroids, named 2021 KT1, is approximately 600 feet, about the size of the Seattle Space Needle and taller … Continue reading
All Clear Given by NASA: Earth Safe from this Dangerous Asteroid for 100 years
By MARCIA DUNN Associate Press via Yahoonews Whew, now here’s some good cosmic news: NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid. The space agency announced this week that new telescope observations have ruled out any chance of Apophis smacking Earth in 2068. That’s the same 1,100-foot (340-meter) space rock that was … Continue reading
Record Number of Asteroids Whizzed Past Earth in 2020
By Alexandra Witze Via Nature Headline Image Credit: Detlev van Ravensway/SPL A 340-metre-wide space rock named Apophis whizzed safely past Earth on 6 March. The next time it returns, in 2029, won’t be so uneventful: Apophis will come within 40,000 kilometres of the planet, skimming just above the region where some high-flying satellites orbit. It will be the first time … Continue reading
Asteroid Roughly the Size of the Golden Gate Bridge to Zoom Past Earth in March
As it leaves safely (hopefully) after the visit in March, if we listen carefully we might just hear, “I’ll be back”. When it loops back in 2029, it’ll be much closer! By Nate Schwartz via deseret Asteroid 99942, a cosmic rock roughly the size of the Golden Gate Bridge, will zoom past Earth on March 21. Scientists first spotted the … Continue reading
Parting Gift from 2020? NASA Warns FIVE Space Rocks Headed this Way
As the widely perceived terrible year of 2020 draws to a close, NASA has shared an alert about five asteroids due to shoot past the Earth on Wednesday and later this week, two of which will come closer to our planet than the Moon. Some three space rocks, ranging in diameter from roughly a telephone pole size all the way … Continue reading
Planetary Defenses MISSED Asteroid Flyby that Came within 400km of Earth on Friday 13th
A disturbing new record for the closest asteroid flyby of the Earth has been set, after a space rock named 2020 VT4 came within 400 kilometers (250 miles) of the planet on Friday the 13th. And our planetary defenses missed it. The asteroid was spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory in … Continue reading
Asteroid Apophis Speeding up Due to Sunlight, Odds of 2068 Impact Being Recalculated
Elizabeth Howell Space.com Astronomers say they’ll have to keep an eye on the near-Earth asteroid Apophis to see how much of a danger the space rock poses to our planet during a close pass in 2068. But don’t panic: The chances of an impact still seem very low. Under certain circumstances, the sun can heat an asteroid unevenly, causing the … Continue reading
What If Apophis Hits Us In 2029?
There are millions of asteroids floating in our Solar System. Every year thousands of meteorites weighing about a pound fall on Earth. Usually we don’t see them, because they land in uninhabited forests or the ocean. However, in 2004 scientists discovered a really dangerous asteroid in space weighing more than 20-million-tons or 40-billion-pounds. The first observations show it has a … Continue reading
