Asteroids Archives

September 25, 2020September 25, 2020 by Evan Gough

Hayabusa2’s Mission isn’t Over. It has a New Asteroid Target to Visit: 1998 KY26

An illustration of the asteroid 1998 KY26. Hayabusa2's mission has been extended and it will rendezvous with this asteroid in 2031. Image Credits: Auburn University/JAXA

In an expected move, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced a mission extension for their Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Hayabusa2 will be sent to rendezvous with another asteroid in a few years time.

It’s target is 1998 KY26, a near-Earth object (NEO) less than a kilometer in diameter. But it’ll take a while and some maneuvering around other objects in the Solar System to reach its goal. JAXA says the spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid in July 2031.

September 23, 2020September 23, 2020 by Evan Gough

Chinese Asteroid Mining Robot Due to Launch in November

Mining asteroids might be necessary for humanity to expand into the Solar System. But what effect would asteroid mining have on the world's economy? Credit: ESA.

Does it seem like science is catching up with science fiction? Sometimes it does. Especially when there’s an announcement like this one.

A Chinese company says that they’ll be launching an asteroid-mining robot by November.

September 15, 2020September 15, 2020 by Evan Gough

Astronomers Have Discovered a 2-km Asteroid Orbiting Closer to the Sun than Venus

An artist's conception of an NEO asteroid orbiting the Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL.

Astronomers have painstakingly built models of the asteroid population, and those models predict that there will be ~1 km sized asteroids that orbit closer to the Sun than Venus does. The problem is, nobody’s been able to find one. Until now.

Astronomers working with the Zwicky Transient Facility say they’ve finally found one. But this one’s bigger, at about 2 km. If its existence can be confirmed, then asteroid population models may have to be updated.

September 10, 2020September 14, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Bennu is Constantly Getting Sandblasted by Tiny Meteoroids

This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 images collected on Dec. 2, 2018, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's PolyCam instrument from a range of 15 miles (24 kilometers). Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

As soon as the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu in December 2018, there was a big surprise. Scientists expected Bennu’s surface would consist of fine-grained material like a sandy beach. But take a look at that surface: Bennu is a jumbled mess.

Here’s a closer view:

September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

There are Three Asteroids Hiding in this Animation, See If You Can Find Them

This summer, the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC) started posting “riddles” or challenges on their website. These riddles provide a look at how difficult it is for astronomers to find faint, near Earth objects (NEO). Try it for yourself by looking at the animation below:

August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Completely Harmless Asteroid Almost Certainly Won’t Hit Earth Just Before the US Election

A long-trailed, earthgrazing Eta Aquarid meteor I saw on May 6, 2013. Credit: Bob King

In a year of devastating wildfires, destructive derechos, early and active hurricanes, widespread social unrest, contentious politics and more — all amid an unprecedented global pandemic — it might seem fitting that ‘asteroid impact’ would be added to the 2020 bingo card.

August 12, 2020August 12, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too

A new and thorough analysis of high-resolution images and data from NASA’s Dawn mission have now provided fresh insights into the dwarf planet Ceres, with intriguing evidence that Ceres has a global subsurface salty ocean, and has been geologically active in the recent past.

July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 by Brian Koberlein

There Might Be an Entire Orbit, Filled with Asteroids that Came from Outside the Solar System

An illustration of the orbit of a Centaur asteroid. Credit: Namouni and Morais, NASA

Aliens could be all around us. Lurking on the edge, waiting to invade our solar system. Not little green creatures, but asteroids from other stars. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

July 24, 2020July 24, 2020 by Evan Gough

800 Million Years Ago, it Was Raining Asteroids on the Earth and Moon

An artist's illustration of an asteroid shower on the Earth-Moon system. Image Credit: Murayama/Osaka Univ.

Natural processes here on Earth continually re-shape the planet’s surface. Craters from ancient asteroid strikes are erased in a short period of time, in geological terms. So how can researchers understand Earth’s history, and how thoroughly it may have been pummeled by asteroid strikes?

Scientists can turn their attention to our ancient companion, the Moon.

June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Rocks on Bennu are Cracking Because of the Constant Day/Night Cycling

Examples of disaggregation (top) and linear fractures (bottom) in boulders on asteroid Bennu from images taken by NASA’s OSIRIS-REX spacecraft. In the bottom row, fracture orientations are (d) west-northwest to east-southeast and (e, f) north to south. Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Asteroid Bennu is blanketed by rocks and huge boulders. And now that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is taking a close look at those rocks, researchers are able to see something surprising for an airless body: the rocks have tiny cracks and fissures.

The cause?