Hayabusa2’s crater-blasting success, confirmed by an image beamed back from the spacecraft, paves the way to grab subsurface asteroid dust. Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/pictures-confirm-hayabusa2-crater-asteroid-ryugu4…
Tag: asteroid
The day the asteroid might hit
For the first time, ESA will cover a major international asteroid impact exercise live via social media, highlighting the the actions that might be taken by scientists, space agencies and civil protection organisations. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-day-asteroid.html…
Nuclear weapons might save the world from an asteroid strike – but we need to change the law first
The schlocky 1998 Bruce Willis movie Armageddon was the highest grossing film of that year. The blockbuster saw a master oil driller (Willis) and an unlikely crew of misfits place a nuclear bomb inside a giant asteroid heading for Earth, blow it up – and save humanity. Armageddon isn’t exactly a documentary: it’s packed full of sci-fi nonsense. But, 20 years…
How to destroy an asteroid without nuking each other first
In the event of an asteroid heading to Earth and likely to cause catastrophic damage, an Armageddon-style nuclear explosion may well be our best line of defence. But would doing so lead the way to potential space-based nuclear apocalypse instead? Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-asteroid-nuking.html…
Japan’s Hayabusa 2 bombed an asteroid and took pictures of the crater
New images captured by Japan’s Hayabusa 2 confirm that the spacecraft successfully blew a hole in the asteroid Ryugu with explosives on 5 April Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2200783-japans-hayabusa-2-bombed-an-asteroid-and-took-pictures-of-the-crater/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Japan creates first artificial crater on asteroid
Japanese scientists have succeeded in creating what they called the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid, a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved, the country’s space agency said Thursday. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-japan-artificial-crater-asteroid.html…
Did an interstellar traveler hit Earth in 2014?
‘Oumuamua – 1st known object to sweep past us from beyond our solar system – caused a stir when astronomers spotted it in 2017. Now a new study suggests another interstellar object might have hit the Earth in 2014. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/interstellar-object-similar-to-oumuamua-strike-earth-2014…
Asteroid Bennu Goes Technicolor in 3-D NASA View
A space rock called Bennu is getting its close-up: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to explore the asteroid has entered a new phase of detailed survey work. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65306-asteroid-bennu-technicolor-nasa-views.html
Huge double asteroid will pass safely May 25
Professional and amateur astronomers are gearing up to observe asteroid 1999 KW4 – oddly shaped, about a mile wide, with a companion moon – around its closest approach on May 25, 2019. Charts here for amateur observers across the globe. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/double-asteroid-1999-kw4-closest-may-25-2019…
Earth vs. asteroids: humans strike back
Incoming asteroids have been scarring our home planet for billions of years. This month humankind left our own mark on an asteroid for the first time: Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft dropped a copper projectile at very high speed in an attempt to form a crater on asteroid Ryugu. A much bigger asteroid impact is planned for the coming decade, involving an international…