Items tagged with asteroid
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Tim Sweezy - Sat, Jun 29, 2024
An asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza, discovered just two weeks ago, makes a close approach to Earth today. While the asteroid, named 2024 MK, poses no danger to Earth, it is a stark reminder of how large asteroids can escape...
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Tim Sweezy - Sat, Jun 22, 2024
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), conducted the fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise this week. The tabletop exercise gathering aimed...
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Tim Sweezy - Tue, Jun 18, 2024
According to NASA, there are several airplane-sized asteroids hurtling toward Earth this week. The largest of the five is estimated to be 110 feet in size, while the closest will come within 447,000 miles of Earth.
It is not uncommon...
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Tim Sweezy - Mon, May 13, 2024
First discovered in 2004, Asteroid Apophis, also known as “God of Chaos,” has been watched closely by astronomers and scientists. The large space rock has become the center of focus because of its expected close flyby of Earth on what is...
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Tim Sweezy - Wed, Feb 28, 2024
A new study has found that NASA’s DART mission that slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid may not have had the impact once thought. The impact simulation study suggested that DART did not leave an impact crater; rather, it reshaped the...
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Tim Sweezy - Fri, Feb 02, 2024
Heads up! A potentially hazardous asteroid the size of a large skyscraper is about to have a close encounter with Earth, and everyone can watch live. No, asteroid 2008 OS7 does not pose a risk to anyone, but it will come within about 2.8...
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Tim Sweezy - Mon, Jan 22, 2024
A small asteroid impacted Earth’s atmosphere over Berlin, Germany, with videos of the fireball lighting up social media. The 3 foot (1 meter) asteroid was detected shortly ahead of it entering Earth’s atmosphere.
A couple of days ago...
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Tim Sweezy - Fri, Jan 12, 2024
A NASA curation team was finally able to remove two stubborn fasteners that have been keeping the space agency from being able to retrieve the remainder of a sample collected from asteroid Bennu. The curation team had to pause the...
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Tim Sweezy - Wed, Dec 27, 2023
NASA plans on getting a bird's-eye view of asteroid Apophis, also known as the “God of Chaos,” as it makes an exceptionally close approach to Earth in 2029. The spacecraft that will have a front-row view is the same one that delivered a...
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Tim Sweezy - Fri, Dec 08, 2023
In a cosmic game of hide and seek, an asteroid will pass in front of one of the biggest and brightest stars visible in the night sky. Asteroid Leona will pass in front of the star Alpha Orionis, also known as Betelgeuse (seen in the image...
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Tim Sweezy - Tue, Nov 28, 2023
NASA delivered a teaspoon size sample of the asteroid Bennu to be studied in the labs at the Natural History Museum in London. NASA describes the 500-meter (0.3 miles) wide asteroid as being the most dangerous rock in the solar system...
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Tim Sweezy - Thu, Nov 09, 2023
NASA's Lucy spacecraft surprises the space agency again with another unexpected find. Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids as it becomes the first mission to investigate the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
Lucy is on a...
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Tim Sweezy - Thu, Nov 02, 2023
NASA’s Lucy probe cuts its teeth with its first up-close encounter with an asteroid named Dinkinesh before moving on to observe 10 other asteroids on its 12-year journey. Lucy had been tracking the asteroid since September 3...
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Tim Sweezy - Wed, Oct 25, 2023
NASA has collected a small amount of the rock and dust sample that its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft brought back from the asteroid Bennu. However, it is having a bit of trouble accessing the rest. That's because the team is having issues...
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Tim Sweezy - Sat, Sep 30, 2023
Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May played a vital role in the OSIRIS-REx mission that successfully returned a sample of asteroid Bennu. May and his colleague, Claudia Manzoni, created stereoscopic images from the O-Rex data that helped...
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Tim Sweezy - Fri, Sep 29, 2023
NASA's Psyche mission has been delayed slightly. However, the space agency still wants civilians to get psyched about the spacecraft traveling to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. A new teaser trailer...
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Tim Sweezy - Sat, Sep 23, 2023
NASA is making slight adjustments to the flight path of its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which is scheduled to deliver a sample capsule from Bennu, an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building, back to Earth. The final correction maneuvers...
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Tim Sweezy - Thu, Sep 07, 2023
NASA is currently tracking five bus and airplane-sized asteroids that are expected to make close approaches to Earth this week. The near-Earth events come just ahead of the space agency's Psyche mission, which will launch next month and...
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Tim Sweezy - Wed, Aug 09, 2023
A retired technical fellow has devised a method for restructuring an asteroid into a large rotating space station. David Jensen says the project could be completed in as little as 12 years with a single rocket launch containing a base...
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Tim Sweezy - Wed, Aug 02, 2023
A relatively new algorithm designed to discover asteroids has spotted its first space rock—a 600-foot-long asteroid classified as potentially hazardous (don't worry, it's not going to smash into Earth). The algorithm was designed to be...
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Tim Sweezy - Sat, Jul 22, 2023
NASA has reported that the DART spacecraft left a swarm of boulders in its wake after slamming into asteroid Dimorphos back in September of last year. The space agency describes what the asteroid is currently up to with the song "Shake...
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Tim Sweezy - Fri, Jul 21, 2023
NASA engineers and technicians are performing some of the final preparations for the Psyche spacecraft before its liftoff which is scheduled for October 5, 2023. Teams are working around the clock at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to make sure...
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