Asteroids
What? Wow! That New Asteroid Image from Lucy Just Got Even More Interesting
Lucy's images of asteroid Dinkinesh are the gift that keeps on giving. First, it was the discovery of a smaller…
How to Make Asteroid Landings Safer
Landing safely on an asteroid is no mean feat. Despite several recent successes, there have also been notable failures -…
ESA’s Hera Mission is Bringing Two Cubesats Along. They’ll Be Landing on Dimorphos
In about one year from now, the European Space Agency will launch its Hera mission. Its destination is the asteroid…
Devastating Clouds of Dust Helped End the Reign of the Dinosaurs
When a giant meteor crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, the impact pulverized cubic kilometers of rock and blasted…
An Asteroid Came Uncomfortably Close to Earth in July. Could we Have Stopped it?
On July 15th, 2023, astronomers discovered an asteroid 43 meters across, two days before it passed within a quarter of…
Environmental Concerns Could Drive Asteroid Mining
Asteroid mining is one of those topics that sounds like it's straight out of science fiction. But, in recent years,…
After DART Smashed Into Dimorphos, What Happened to the Larger Asteroid Didymos?
NASA's DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) slammed into asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022, changing its orbital period. Ground and…
There are 14,000 Near Earth Asteroids Left to Find
Everyone likes a cool infographic, right? Does that statement hold even if the infographic points out a gap in our…
A Hypervelocity Experiment Mimics the Surface Conditions of Ceres
It might be oxymoronic to say that the more we find out about something, the more mysterious it becomes. But…
Can We Find the Heaviest Elements in Asteroids?
Uranium is the heaviest element found in large amounts on Earth, with an atomic number of 92. Although heavier elements…