Asteroids

NASA has alerted that an absolutely gigantic asteroid is hurtling towards a close approach to Earth today. Asteroids have several shapes, they may be spherical, elongated, or oddly shaped. Some asteroids even have their own satellites! Asteroids also vary in size. From Vesta, the largest at about 530 kilometers in diameter, to asteroids that are less than 10 meters in diameter, they can be found in all shapes and sizes. The past 3 months have witnessed dozens of asteroid flybys each month. Now, NASA has warned that an…

On the evening of September 26th, Elena Adams, the lead engineer for NASA’s asteroid-smashing DART spacecraft, peered at the data streaming to her computer console in mission control, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Maryland. Some forty other engineers were crammed into the room with her, sitting at rows of similar stations or gazing at large telemetry displays mounted on walls emblazoned with NASA heraldry. The DART spacecraft was seven million miles from Earth; after charting a…

A small yet potentially hazardous asteroid is hurtling towards Earth at a speed of 16272 kmph today. Know what NASA said. Did you know, there are currently 1113527 known asteroids? One of which is rushing towards Earth today! NASA has confirmed that a potentially hazardous asteroid is all set to make its closest approach to Earth. NASA's JPL data has confirmed that the upcoming asteroid measures just 29 feet in diameter. Despite being small in size, this asteroid is dubbed as being potentially hazardous by…

Beware! This asteroid is set to make a close approach to Earth today. Know what NASA said about this space rock. NASA, with the help of its various space and ground-based telescopes, has discovered a huge asteroid heading dangerously towards Earth today. This particular asteroid has caused a panic among space agencies as it was discovered just 10 days ago on October 18. It is hurtling towards the planet at blistering speed. Although this asteroid does not pose any viable threat to Earth and will pass the planet safely,…

NASA has warned that a dangerous asteroid is hurtling towards the Earth. Another day, another asteroid flyby, it has been the story of the month so far. August and September have witnessed over 35 asteroid close approaches and October is set to match, if not surpass the number. Asteroids have been responsible for some of the biggest events in history. From the Chelyabinsk disaster that claimed many lives to the meteor which caused the extinction of dinosaurs millions of years ago, whenever meteors have crashed on…

The world’s biggest digital camera is finally coming into focus. While a very powerful personal camera might have megapixel resolution, astronomers have constructed a device that will image the distant universe with 3.2 gigapixel resolution. (A gigapixel is equivalent to 1,000 megapixels.)That camera will be the workhorse for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s telescope, which has been in the works for about two decades but is nearly complete. At the end of September, scientists and technicians working in an enormous clean…

A NASA spacecraft named Lucy, the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, will skim the earth's atmosphere, passing a mere 350 kms above the surface on October 16, to gain some of the orbital energy it needs to travel to this never-before-visited population of asteroids.The Trojan asteroids are trapped in orbits around the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter, either far ahead of or behind the giant planet.Lucy is currently one year into a 12-year voyage and this gravity assist will place it on a new trajectory for…

The US space agency has confirmed that when its spacecraft smashed into an asteroid last month, it altered its orbit by 32 minutes, calling it a "watershed moment" for planetary defence.This marks humanity's first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.After 10 months of flying in space, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) -- the world's first planetary defence technology demonstration -- successfully impacted its…

Humans have for the first time proven that they can change the path of a massive rock hurtling through space. NASA has announced that the spacecraft it slammed into an asteroid on 26 September succeeded in altering the space rock’s orbit around another asteroid — with better-than-expected results. Agency officials had estimated that the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft would ‘nudge’ the asteroid Dimorphos closer to its partner, Didymos, and cut its orbit time around that rock by 10–15 minutes. At an 11…

An illustration of the Trojan asteroids as they lead and follow Jupiter.Illustration: NASAAstronomer Marc Buie has been tracing the shadows of a swarm of rocky bodies as they pass in front of stars, leaving behind a distinct imprint of their shape. These space rocks are known as the Trojan asteroids, two groups of asteroids that lead and follow Jupiter as they orbit the Sun. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids for a chance to get a closer look at the primordial rocks. But before its…