Asteroids
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…
OSIRIS-REx Returned Carbon and Water from Asteroid Bennu
Carbon and water are so common on Earth that they're barely worth mentioning. But not if you're a scientist. They…
Watch OSIRIS-REx Release its Sample Capsule
Most of the spacecraft we send out into the Solar System are never meant to return. Time, space, and entropy…
NASA Opens the Lid on OSIRIS-REx's Sample Capsule
NASA teams have started the intricate process of removing the samples of asteroid Bennu from their canister.
Lucy Has its First Asteroid Target in the Crosshairs
NASA's Lucy spacecraft launched almost one year ago, in October of 2021. Its journey is an ambitious one, and long.…