asteroids

Why are asteroids and comets such weird shapes?

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A rubber duck. A spinning top. A pair of pancakes. These are just a few of the shapes astronomers have observed across the solar system. While planets and some moons are almost perfectly spherical, the smaller bits of the solar system, such as asteroids and comets, come in all different shapes. But why is that? It all comes down … Read more

Ingenious System to Pulverize Asteroids May Be Earth’s Only Chance in a Catastrophe

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Gazing at the night sky can evoke a sense of wonder regarding humanity’s place in the Universe. But that’s not all it can evoke. If you’re knowledgeable about asteroid strikes like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, then even a fleeting meteorite can nudge aside your enjoyable sense of wonder.   What if? Luckily, … Read more

Behold, This Is The First Asteroid Ever Discovered to Have Three Moons

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An asteroid discovered in the 19th century has just been identified as the most crowded we’ve ever found. It’s called 130 Elektra, or just Elektra for short, and astronomers have just discovered that it has not one, nor two, but three smaller satellite companions, or moons. That not only makes it the most numerous asteroid … Read more

Strange twin asteroids, the youngest ever seen, likely broke apart just 300 years ag

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Scientists have spotted two space rocks that may be Earth’s freshest asteroid neighbors. The strange pair of near-Earth asteroids is separated by about 600,000 miles (1 million kilometers), and researchers calculated that they likely broke off the same asteroid just a few centuries ago. “It’s very exciting to find such a young asteroid pair that … Read more

Astronomers Spot The Youngest Pair of Asteroids Ever Discovered in The Solar System

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A pair of asteroids orbiting the Sun formed less than 300 years ago, a new study has revealed. This makes them the youngest pair of asteroids ever discovered in the Solar System, by a factor of 10. The discovery could tell us more about how asteroids crumble, while raising some intriguing new questions.   “It’s … Read more

Mars may have been habitable millions of years later than we thought

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Analysis of minerals in a Martian meteorite suggest that the planet may have begun to be hospitable for life 30 million years later than previously thought Space 2 February 2022 By Chen Ly Caption: NWA 7034Copyright: NASA NASA Deformations in a small mineral grain from a Martian meteorite hint that habitable conditions on Mars could … Read more

It’s Official! A New Trojan Asteroid Has Been Discovered Sharing Earth’s Orbit

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Earth has officially been joined in its orbit around the Sun by a new trojan asteroid. Named 2020 XL5, this chunk of rock is only the second object of its type ever to have been conclusively identified. Its discovery suggests that perhaps Earth trojans may be more common than we knew, and offers new insights … Read more

NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Impact Monitoring System Just Got Switched On

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When it comes to avoiding asteroid-inflicted apocalypse, we’ll take all the help we can get, and NASA’s next-generation asteroid impact monitoring system, which has just been activated, has us sleeping a little bit easier in our beds.   Called Sentry-II, the new system can take data collected from telescopes and work out the path of … Read more