Asteroids
An Asteroid has Been Discovered That Crosses Mercury’s Orbit
Astronomers have spotted the fastest-ever asteroid orbiting Sun -- and at times, it gets closer to the Sun than the…
OSIRIS-Rex got to Know Bennu Really Well. Apparently, There’s now a 1-in-1,750 Chance That it’ll hit Earth by 2300
Asteroid Bennu is one of the two most hazardous known asteroids in our Solar System. Luckily, the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral…
Did Asteroid Impacts Provide Both the Heat and Raw Ingredients to Enable Life?
This is our Great Question: How did life begin on Earth? Anyone who says they have the answer is telling…
Earth Gains 5,200 Tons of Dust From Space Every Year
Whenever I wipe the dust off my coffee table or catch a glimpse of dust motes floating in sunlight, my…
OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home
After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It's bringing…
Careful Calculations Show That Earth is Safe From Asteroid Apophis for at Least 100 Years
If you're looking for doomsday, you can forget about asteroid Apophis. The latest radar observations have effectively ruled out any…
It Turns Out That the World’s Oldest Impact Crater Isn’t an Impact Crater
In early 2012, an international research team surveying parts of southwestern Greenland announced that they had discovered the oldest impact…
Dust in the Chixalub Crater Makes the Compelling Case That an Asteroid Wiped out the Dinosaurs 65 Million Years ago
For decades scientists have believed that an asteroid impact event ended the era of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.…
Jupiter has Added a Comet to its Trojan Collection
Jupiter is notorious for capturing objects that venture too close to the gas giant and its enormous pull of gravity.…
OSIRIS-REx is Heading for Home in May
The OSIRIS-REx team decided to delay the spacecraft’s departure from asteroid Bennu for two months. The departure window opens in…