Scientists Shocked to Discover ‘City-Killer Asteroid’ Whizzed Past Earth in Scary Near Miss
Alan Duffy was confused. On Thursday, the astronomer’s phone was suddenly flooded with calls from reporters wanting to know about a large asteroid that had just whizzed past Earth, and he couldn’t figure out “why everyone was so alarmed.” The space rock, named Asteroid 2019 OK, came hurtling toward Earth at a speed of nearly 15 miles a second, before … Continue reading
4 Potentially Deadly Asteroids Headed Our Way
It’s a scenario straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster, an asteroid is careening towards Earth and is set to wipe out human existence. To mark Asteroid Day, here are four space rocks on a collision course with our planet. The United Nations fears that the possibility of an asteroid smashing into a densely populated area isn’t being taken seriously enough, … Continue reading
Tunguska Event Helped Researchers Recognize Potential Meteor Threats to Earth
Tunguska Event occurred on June 30, 1908 Russia’s state emergency center has shared some of the most worrisome scenarios that presumably await planet Earth in the decades to come, and, most importantly, outlined how dangerous the contact with celestial bodies might turn out. Large asteroids of up to one kilometer in diameter are feared to come into dangerous proximity to … Continue reading
Threat from an Earth-Altering Asteroid Strike is REAL, Warns NASA Chief
The NASA chief’s speech comes on the heels of the space agency’s announcement that it would conduct an asteroid impact simulation to identify critical aspects of disaster response in the event of such a cataclysmic scenario. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine took the stage of this year’s Planetary Defence Conference on Monday to issue a stark warning: people should be ready … Continue reading
Colossal Asteroid to Make Close Pass with Earth on Friday, But We’ll be Fine
NASA is always keeping an eye on space rocks that get anywhere near Earth, and 2019 has been a relatively calm year in terms of close passes. A recently discovered asteroid is going to make a not-super-close pass of Earth later this week, and while it doesn’t pose much of a threat to our planet it’s worth mentioning simply because … Continue reading
Two Asteroids Zipped by Earth Undetected Last Weekend
Two tiny asteroids sneaked safely past Earth last weekend, only to be discovered hours after they’d buzzed our planet. Asteroids 2018 NX and 2018 NW zipped past our blue-green orb at distances of just 72,000 miles and 76,000 miles, respectively. That’s about one-third of the distance from the Earth to the moon. Scientists think the asteroids both stretched between about … Continue reading
Asteroid Vesta, with a 13-mile-high Mountain Will Make Close Approach, Be Naked Eye Visible
Look up in nighttime sky anytime between now and July 16, and you just might spy our solar system’s brightest asteroid. Vesta, a 326-mile-wide object residing in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, is about to make its closest approach to Earth in nearly two decades. But don’t worry, unlike other close calls with asteroids in recent history, Vesta is in … Continue reading
Asteroid 2010 WC9 Will Pass Between Earth and the Moon in Close Approach… TODAY!
Last night in Australia, near-Earth asteroid 2010 WC9 glided silently across the starry sky of Brisbane while the city’s residents slept. Well… not every resident slept. Amateur astronomer Dennis Simmons was wide awake and recorded the flyby: “The asteroid moved rapidly through the constellation Hercules shining about as brightly as a 15th magnitude star,” says Simmons. “The ‘wobbly’ appearance of … Continue reading
Idea Proposed to Use Asteroids as Starships
Rather clever idea, modifying asteroids to enable their use as a ‘vehicle’ for traveling in space. via unexplained-mysteries: Researchers have put forward the idea of hollowing out an asteroid and using it to travel between the stars. It might sound like something out of an Arthur C. Clarke novel, but the idea of using asteroids as frameworks for multi-generational interstellar … Continue reading
Russian Scientists Testing Lasers to Destroy Deadly Asteroids
Remember last week, when we learned that NASA has official plans to blow up deadly asteroids with nuclear bombs? Well, we’ve got more good news: Russian scientists from ROSATOM (aka, the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation) and MIPT (the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) have been building tiny, scale-model asteroids and blowing them up with lasers in order to … Continue reading
