asteroid

Asteroid hits Earth near Iceland hours after being spotted by astronomers

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A space rock that exploded in the atmosphere near Iceland was only the fifth asteroid that has been observed before an impact with Earth Space 15 March 2022 By Will Gater Artwork showing an asteroid approaching Earth Andrzej Wojcicki/Science Photo Library/Getty Images A small asteroid harmlessly collided with Earth on 11 March, creating an explosion … Read more

Asteroid spotted just before hitting Earth’s atmosphere wows astronomers

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This weekend, an astronomer spotted a small asteroid just hours before the space rock crashed into Earth’s atmosphere and met its fiery demise. On Friday (March 11), astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky was observing the sky at the Piszkésteto Mountain Station, which is part of the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest in Hungary. During his observations, he spotted … Read more

We Only Spotted This Asteroid Hours Before It Fell to Earth. Here’s Why That’s Good

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On 11 March 2022, at around 9:20 pm UTC, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere. This is not unusual. Space rocks enter Earth’s atmosphere all the time. What makes this asteroid so amazing is that an astronomer spotted it before it made its rendezvous with atmospheric entry. It’s named 2022 EB5, and it’s only the … Read more

An asteroid the size of a bus flies by Earth today and you can watch it live online

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You can watch a big asteroid make a safe flyby of Earth today (March 11) from any spot with good internet access. Weather permitting, the Virtual Telescope Project will livestream telescope views of the recently found asteroid 2022 ES3, which will pass by our planet just slightly within the orbit of the moon. The broadcast … Read more

Big asteroid slammed into Greenland just a few million years after the dinosaurs died out

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Hidden under Greenland’s thick ice sheet, scientists found what they thought was the scar of an asteroid impact perhaps just thousands of years old, fresh enough that humans were already on the scene. But after several years of additional research, two separate teams of scientists have determined its age to be far older: 58 million … Read more

It seemed like the most dangerous asteroid in a decade, but it definitely won’t hit Earth

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A recently discovered asteroid seemed to be on a trajectory to hit Earth next year, but orbit recalculation eventually revealed it will miss our planet.  The 230-feet-wide (70 meters) asteroid 2022 EA1 was discovered on Jan. 7 and frightened space defenders because it appeared bound to collide with our planet on July 4, 2023 — … Read more

This long-lost asteroid impact was so big its debris left more than 30 craters

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Ricochet from a meteorite impact on Earth created a huge ‘field’ of craters that so far, we have only seen examples of on other planets. The unique site in southeast Wyoming has more than 30 craters that were formed about 280 million years ago, researchers said in a new study. The craters were created after … Read more

An Asteroid Predicted to Hit Earth in 2023 Has Turned Out to Be Safe

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Earlier this year, the discovery of a potentially hazardous asteroid took astronomers on a roller coaster ride. On 6 January 2022, astronomers at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona discovered an asteroid roughly 70-meters (230 ft) across. Based on their initial observations, it appeared this object – called ‘2022 AE1‘ – could potentially hit Earth on its next pass, on … Read more

NASA funds experimental radiation shield and Mars climbing robot

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Several futuristic projects have just been awarded money through NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts programme – here are New Scientist‘s top five choices Space 3 March 2022 By Will Gater NASA has just announced the projects that will be getting money from its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme, which aims to support ideas for game-changing … Read more