asteroid

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Sign of Life? Vapor Rises on Dwarf Planet

Find suggests Ceres has huge subsurface ocean

(Newser) - There may be a new contender for the likeliest place to host life elsewhere in our solar system—and it's not a planet or a moon. Astronomers have spotted water vapor from Ceres, classed as both the smallest dwarf planet and largest asteroid, marking the first time water has...

Asteroid to Hit Earth? NASA Builds Craft to Find Out

Bennu is circling Earth, and could strike in 2182

(Newser) - With a big asteroid possibly heading for Earth in 2182, what are scientists to do? Build an unmanned spacecraft to give that hunk of rock a closer look, the Arizona Republic reports. NASA and the University of Arizona are is designing the $1 billion project, called OSIRIS-REx, which is set...

For 2nd Time Ever, We Saw an Asteroid Before It Hit Us

And that's not the only impressive part

(Newser) - While working a solo shift on New Year's Eve, an Arizona astronomer spotted a car-sized asteroid en route to Earth. There are a few amazing things about this: 1) It's only the second time ever that an asteroid has been spotted before impact, and 2) The previous one...

Ancient Ocean Found Under Chesapeake Bay

 Ancient Ocean Found 
 Under Chesapeake Bay 
in case you missed it
Nov 24, 2013 9:04 AM CST

Ancient Ocean Found Under Chesapeake Bay

Huge crater helped preserve salty sea

(Newser) - The remains of a salty ocean ancient enough for dinosaurs to have drowned in it have been found deep in the sediment under the Chesapeake Bay. The seawater—believed to be 100 to 150 million years old—was isolated, trapped a half-mile underground, and preserved with the help of an...

NASA 'Dumbfounded' by 6-Tailed Comet

(OK, technically it's a 'comet-like' asteroid)

(Newser) - The Hubble telescope has spotted a spectacular, perplexing object in the middle of the Asteroid Belt: a rock with six "comet-like" dust tails streaming behind it. "We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it," David Jewitt, the head of the astronomy team studying the P/2013 P5, said...

UN Wants to Save Us From Asteroids

Former astronauts propose plan to deal with dangerous rocks

(Newser) - The next time an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, the UN wants to make sure someone calls Bruce Willis. The General Assembly last week gave the green light to an asteroid defense plan drawn up by the former astronauts at the Association of Space Explorers, Scientific American...

Small Chance Big Asteroid Could Hit Earth in 2032

Chance of impact a low 1 in 63,000

(Newser) - As far as chances go, it's a lot more likely that an asteroid named 2013 TV135 will smash into our planet in 2032 than it is that you'll win Powerball . But before you panic, know that the chances are still quite slim: one in 63,000; NASA says...

New Asteroid Points to Habitable Exoplanets

Scientists spot water-rich asteroid 170 light-years from Earth

(Newser) - Scientists have spotted the remains of a water-rich asteroid, orbiting a dying star about 170 light-years from Earth. It's more than a bit of space waste—the find suggests that this far-off solar system may have once had planets capable of supporting life, the LA Times reports. "The...

Big Asteroid Buzzes by Earth Tomorrow

No risk of collision, but astronomers should be happy

(Newser) - Backyard astronomers, ready your telescopes. A big asteroid is about to zip by Earth, with its closest approach coming at 4:59pm Eastern tomorrow, says NASA . The rock will be 3.6 million miles away at that point, meaning there's no chance for a collision, but that should allow...

US Might Try to Catch an Asteroid

Plan would bring million-pound rock close enough for exploration

(Newser) - President Obama's budget proposal will include funds for a wild plan to use a robotic spacecraft to snag an asteroid and drag it close enough to Earth for astronauts to land on and study it, Aviation Week reports. The project, as dreamed up in a study last year by...

Meteor 'Doomsayers' Gain Cred After Russia Blast

Private groups plan to launch detection satellites

(Newser) - Advocates for early space-rock detection are speaking up and sounding a lot less looney since that meteor rocked Russia on Friday, the New York Times reports. At least two private groups are planning to launch satellites for early detection and one wants to mine asteroids for useful metals like platinum....

Asteroid Buzzes By, World Spins On

It came within a relative whisker of 17K miles

(Newser) - The world is safe: That 150-foot cosmic rock astronomers were watching hurtled safely past Earth about 2:30pm Eastern. It was the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, passing within 17,500 miles, closer than some satellites. The asteroid was invisible to astronomers in the US at...

UN Team Unveils Asteroid Defense Plan

On the same day massive rock buzzes the Earth

(Newser) - An asteroid about half the size of a football field will whiz past Earth today, closer than any object of its size ever has before (OK, almost any object ), and a much smaller meteor actually hit Russia this morning, injuring hundreds. But fear not, people of Earth: Soon, we...

Asteroid Bound for Close Call With Earth

But DA14 definitely won't hit us, NASA says

(Newser) - An asteroid big enough to flatten a city will zip closer to Earth than any previously observed space object its size on Feb. 15, but astronomers say there is zero chance of 2012 DA14 squishing any Earthlings this time around. With a 148-foot diameter and the mass of a cruise...

Coming in 2015: Asteroid Miners

Space materials can 'expand the civilization of Earth out into the cosmos,' firm says

(Newser) - Asteroid mining is just a few years away, according to a US company, but there won't be any jobs for pickaxe-wielding spacemen just yet: The first probes will only be the size of laptops. Deep Space Industries plans to send the probes on prospecting trips to some of the...

'Doomsday Asteroid' Even Bigger Than Thought

And there's still a chance it could hit us in 2036

(Newser) - The asteroid Apophis , whose reported threat to our planet has attracted widespread attention, is even larger than scientists believed, according to new images. Europe's Herschel Space Observatory says the asteroid is some 1,066 feet feet wide, some 20% wider than previously thought. That "translates into a 75%...

'Man in the Moon' Was Made by Austria-Sized Asteroid

Japanese researchers arrive at conclusion by analyzing minerals

(Newser) - The moon's Procellarum basin—the dark part seen from Earth sometimes said to resemble a "man in the moon"—was likely formed when an asteroid the size of Austria slammed into the lunar surface some 3.9 million years ago, a team of Japanese scientists has concluded....

Jupiter Takes New Hit for the Team

 Jupiter Takes New Hit 
 for the Team 
in case you missed it
Sep 15, 2012 12:43 PM CDT

Jupiter Takes New Hit for the Team

Flash believed to be collision with asteroid or comet

(Newser) - For the third time in four years, Jupiter appears to have been hit by something big enough to have done a lot of damage to our planet or any other unlucky enough to be in its way. A flash on Jupiter captured by amateur astronomers is believed to have been...

Oldest Impact Crater Found in Greenland

Meteorite probably smashed down about 3B years ago

(Newser) - Scientists have uncovered what might be the oldest meteorite crater on Earth. Located in Greenland, it's about 62 miles wide and was likely formed 3 billion years ago when a 19-mile-wide meteorite collided with our planet, reports Space.com . Today, an impact that size likely would wipe out humans....

Red Tomatoes Explained: Blame Meteor
 Why Are Tomatoes Red? 
 Blame Meteor 
in case you missed it
Jun 16, 2012 1:20 PM CDT

Why Are Tomatoes Red? Blame Meteor

Dinosaur-killing impact forced the tomato into big changes, say scientists

(Newser) - Why are tomatoes red? The same reason dinosaurs were killed off, say scientists. The massive meteorite that struck Earth 60 to 70 million years ago created extremely harsh conditions that forced the evolution of the tomato into its current red and edible form, reports Phys.org . Researchers discovered this connection...

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