Space Dust – A New Way To Search for Alien Life
Professor Tomonori Totani from the University of Tokyo posits that cosmic dust, particularly grains measuring about 1 micrometer, could carry signs of extraterrestrial life to…
Asteroid News
Join the Hunt: Astronomers Need Help Finding Asteroids Hurtling Through Our Solar System
Anyone with an internet connection can now join University of Arizona researchers as they work to discover asteroids hurtling through our solar system. Anyone can…
SOHO Chases Asteroid’s Tail – Unmasks “Rock Comet” Phaethon’s Sodium Glow
The SOHO observatory has challenged previous theories about Phaethon, a ‘rock comet’ linked to the Geminid meteor shower, by suggesting that its brightness and tail…
Sodium Surprise: Asteroid’s Comet-Like Tail Is Not Made of Dust
Scientists discovered that asteroid Phaethon, the source of the Geminid meteor shower, has a tail made of sodium, not dust. This finding challenges 14 years…
Lucy in the Sky With Asteroids: NASA’s Mission Reveals First Images of Jupiter’s Trojans
NASA’s Lucy mission captured its first views of four Jupiter Trojan asteroids, with observations helping to choose exposure times for close-up observations. Lucy is on…
Defending Earth From Cosmic Threats: Planetary Defense Experts Unite!
The 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference was held in Vienna to discuss efforts focused on addressing the asteroid impact hazard. Participants shared their knowledge and…
A Race Against Time: NASA Readies for Historic Asteroid Sample Delivery
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with a sample it collected from the rocky surface of asteroid Bennu. When its sample capsule parachutes…
The Far-Flung Origin of Life’s Building Blocks: Researchers Uncover “Completely Unexpected” Findings
Imperial College London researchers have discovered the probable distant origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals, some of which form the building blocks of life, through the…
Cracking the ’Oumuamua Code: Alien Spaceship or Natural Phenomenon?
2017 comet’s unusual acceleration explained by hydrogen outgassing from ice. In 2017, a mysterious comet dubbed ‘Oumuamua fired the imaginations of scientists and the public…
Astronomers Identify Unknown Class of Water-Rich Asteroids
Small planets are believed to have originated from the edges of our Solar System. Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery with the help of new…
Component of RNA Found in Asteroid Ryugu Samples
Samples from the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 mission contain nitrogenous organic compounds, including the nucleobase uracil, which is a part of RNA. Researchers…
Hubble Movie of DART Asteroid Impact Debris Reveals Surprising and Remarkable Changes
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured a series of photos of rapid changes to the asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by a 545-kilogram…
Unexpected Surprises: Hubble Captures Stunning Movie of DART Asteroid Impact Debris
Never-Before-Seen Spacecraft Collision Yields Unexpected Surprises In 2022 NASA embarked on a bold experiment to see if they could change an asteroid’s velocity by smacking…
Hubble Space Telescope Captures Movie of DART Asteroid Impact Debris
This movie captures the breakup of the asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by NASA’s 545-kilogram Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission spacecraft on…
Planetary Defense Success! NASA’s DART Data Validates Asteroid Kinetic Impact Method
Since NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully impacted its target nearly five months ago, on September 26 — altering the orbit of the asteroid…
Introducing “Dinkinesh” – First Asteroid Target for NASA’s Lucy Mission Gets a Name
The first asteroid to be visited by NASA’s Lucy mission now has a name. The International Astronomical Union has approved the name (152830) Dinkinesh for…
NEOMIR: Planetary Defense Mission for Finding Dangerous Asteroids Hidden by Sun
Asteroids, like stars, only come out at night. Hidden in the glare of our Sun are an unknown number of asteroids on paths we cannot…
NASA Discovers Organic Molecules on Asteroid Ryugu, Bolstering Theory of Extraterrestrial Life Ingredients
Asteroid Ryugu has a rich complement of organic molecules, according to a NASA and international team’s initial analysis of a sample from the asteroid’s surface…
