asteroid

NASA’s Lucy asteroid spacecraft still has a wonky solar array as it flies through space

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Three months after launch, a new NASA asteroid spacecraft is still getting settled into its life beyond Earth. NASA’s Lucy mission launched Oct. 16 with a mission to explore the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the sun ahead of and behind Jupiter. No spacecraft has ever visited the Trojan asteroids, which scientists believe are “fossils” from … Read more

Mars ‘asteroid showers’ have stayed steady over 600 million years

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Our dating assumptions for the Red Planet might need a second look. Fresh analysis of craters on Mars suggests that asteroids have been smashing into the surface at a consistent rate for at least 600 million years. Scientists often use craters as a proxy to figure out how old a planetary surface is, since more … Read more

NASA upgrades its asteroid hazard software to use sunlight

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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) just upgraded the software it uses to assess potentially hazardous asteroids to account for sunlight’s affect on orbits, among other changes. While there are no immediate known space rock hazards to Earth despite decades of careful searching, astronomers continue to scan the skies, just in case. The new impact monitoring … Read more

Massive asteroid safely zooms by Earth, a million miles away

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A huge asteroid made its closest approach of the next two centuries Tuesday (Jan. 18), flying quite safely past our planet. Asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1), which is classified as a near-Earth asteroid, only got within five lunar distances of our planet, the equivalent of 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers). The Virtual Telescope Project, which … Read more

Best asteroid movies | Space

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Our list of the best asteroid movies has crashed to Earth, but which of them made the deepest impact? A fictional threatening comet or asteroid provides perfect fodder for a science fiction film. Happily, NASA and its partners scan the skies regularly for threatening small bodies and so far, in real life, they have found … Read more

A huge asteroid flies will fly safely by Earth today. Here’s how to watch it live.

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You can watch live as a humongous asteroid flies safely past our planet today (Jan. 18). Italy’s Virtual Telescope Project, which is based in Rome, will host a livestream starting at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), when asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) is almost at its closest approach to our planet: 1 million miles or 1.6 … Read more

You’ve Got a Rare Chance to See a Huge Asteroid Fly by Earth This Week. Here’s How

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In a slow-moving universe, asteroids give us a rare chance to see things moving in real time. We have such a chance coming right up on the evening of Tuesday, January 18th, when 1.1-kilometer asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 passes 1.23 million miles (1.98 million kilometers) from Earth.   This is about five times the distance … Read more

A ‘rogue asteroid field’ almost delays the Valoria 3 analog Mars mission — Commander’s Report: sol 2

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Dr. Michaela Musilova is the director of Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) program, which conducts analog missions to the moon and Mars for scientific research at a habitat on the volcano Mauna Loa. Currently, she is in command of the two-week Valoria 3 Martian mission and contributed this report to Space.com’s Expert Voices: … Read more

A Giant Asteroid Bigger Than The Empire State Building Is About to Zip Past Earth

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A large, rocky asteroid is going to fly by Earth next week. At 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) long, it’s roughly two and a half times the height of the Empire State Building, and it’s been classed a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” due to its size and its regular close visits to our planet.   But don’t … Read more