Scientists examined rock cores taken from the Chicxulub crater in Mexico, site of the asteroid impact that triggered dinosaur extinction, and found iridium, a telltale sign of asteroids. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/asteroid-dust-iridium-chicxulub-crater-dinosaur-extinction…
Tag: asteroid
Planetary defense experts use infamous asteroid Apophis to practice spotting dangerous space rocks
Eight years after an asteroid exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, scientists are taking advantage of a flyby of the infamous asteroid Apophis to practice protecting Earth from space rocks. Source: https://www.livescience.com/apophis-2021-flyby-for-planetary-defense-practice.html
The Milky Way may be swarming with planets with oceans and continents like here on Earth
Astronomers have long been looking into the vast universe in hopes of discovering alien civilisations. But for a planet to have life, liquid water must be present. The likelihood of that scenario has seemed impossible to calculate because it has been the assumption that planets like Earth got their water by chance when a large ice asteroid hit the planet. Source:…
Comet or asteroid: What killed the dinosaurs and where did it come from?
It forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-comet-asteroid-dinosaurs.html…
A new planet next door?
Astronomers have spotted “something” near Alpha Centauri A, in the star system nearest our Earth and sun. If it turns out to be a planet, it’ll be the first time a planet has been directly imaged within the habitable zone of a star. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/alpha-centauri-a-planet-candidate-direct-image-discovery…
Asteroid the size of the Golden Gate Bridge will whiz past Earth in March
An asteroid the size of the Golden Gate Bridge will get close enough to Earth to be classified as “potentially hazardous.” What’s the risk? Source: https://www.livescience.com/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-whizzes-near-earth-2001-fo32.html
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx to fly a farewell tour of Bennu
On April 7, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will give asteroid Bennu one last glance before saying farewell. Before departing for Earth on May 10, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will perform a final flyby of Bennu—capturing its last images of sample collection site Nightingale to look for transformations on Bennu’s surface after the Oct. 20, 2020, sample collection event. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-osiris-rex-farewell-bennu.html…
The 1st sign of intelligent life beyond Earth?
Physicist Avi Loeb of Harvard believes we should take seriously the idea that ‘Oumuamua – the 1st known object to pass through our solar system from interstellar space – might have been created by an alien civilization. His new book is called “Extraterrestrial.” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/book-avi-loeb-extraterrestrial-1st-sign-of-intelligent-life…
What’s the difference between asteroids and comets?
Asteroids and comets are generally composed of different materials and reside in different locations of the solar system, while some rare objects display characteristics of both. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/whats-the-difference-between-comets-and-asteroids…
Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy: New Research Says #42 Really Is Our Number
Just 11 months before his death in 2001, famous author Douglas Adams answered questions from Slashdot readers. And Slashdot reader Informativity still remembers how Adams (also a Doctor Who script editor) had included a supercomputer named Deep Thought in his first book which spent 7.5 million years to determine that the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and…