Latest Near-Earth object Stories
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif., has captured new radar images of Asteroid 2005 YU55 passing close to Earth. (Logo: <font size="2" face="Arial">http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO</font>) The asteroid safely will fly past our planet slightly closer than the moon's orbit on Nov. 8. The last time a space rock this large came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers...
Ask scientists about a large asteroid that will pass between the Earth and moon in a close encounter between our planet and a near-Earth object You are invited to participate in a live online chat this Thursday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. EDT with two eminent astronomers from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA, who will discuss a large asteroid that will approach close to Earth on Nov. 8, 2011 and the science of such near-Earth asteroids. This rare flyby of the asteroid--which is...
On the heels of the return to Earth of a pair of satellites -- NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) and the German-built Röntgensatellit (ROSAT) -- over the past two months comes a report of another object set to collide with our planet. Only this one is a 20 million ton asteroid that is currently heading towards us at 23,000 miles per hour, and could collide with our planet in approximately 25 years, Alex Hannaford of the Telegraph wrote on Sunday. The asteroid in question,...
NASA scientists will be tracking asteroid 2005 YU55 with antennas of the agency's Deep Space Network at Goldstone, Calif., as the space rock safely flies past Earth slightly closer than the moon's orbit on Nov. 8. Scientists are treating the flyby of the 1,300-foot-wide (400-meter) asteroid as a science target of opportunity - allowing instruments on "spacecraft Earth" to scan it during the close pass. Tracking of the aircraft carrier-sized asteroid will begin at 9:30 a.m. local time (PDT)...
Comet Elenin is no more. Latest indications are this relatively small comet has broken into even smaller, even less significant, chunks of dust and ice. This trail of piffling particles will remain on the same path as the original comet, completing its unexceptional swing through the inner solar system this fall. "Elenin did as new comets passing close by the sun do about two percent of the time: It broke apart," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet...
For the first time, observations coordinated by ESA's space hazards team have found an asteroid that comes close enough to Earth to pose an impact threat. The space rock was found by amateur astronomers, highlighting the value of 'crowd-sourcing' to science and planetary defense. The discovery of asteroid 2011 SF108 was made by the volunteer Teide Observatory Tenerife Asteroid Survey (TOTAS) team during an observation slot sponsored by ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program in...
[ Watch the Video ] New asteroid population numbers given by NASA shows that Earth isn't as threatened as previously thought by the space rocks. NASA announced on Thursday that its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explore (WISE) has found that there are significantly less near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. Astronomers believe there are about 19,500 mid-size near-Earth asteroids, which is over 15,000 less than previously thought. Scientists say this...
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. The findings also indicate NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with Congress in 1998. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 --...
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission indicate the family of asteroids some believed was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs is not likely the culprit, keeping the case open on one of Earth's greatest mysteries. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) While scientists are confident a large asteroid crashed into Earth approximately 65 million years ago, leading to the...
NASA said on Monday that the family of asteroids believed to be responsible for the destruction of dinosaurs is innocent. Observations made by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) confirmed that a 2007 study's claims that a huge asteroid known as Baptistina destroyed the dinosaurs was false. Although the new discovery has abolished one theory of how the dinosaurs ceased to exist, it did not bring about any new theories on the topic. The original theory used...
Latest Near-Earth object Reference Libraries
NEAR-Shoemaker Mission -- The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), renamed after its launch in honor of Gene Shoemaker, is an unmanned spacecraft designed to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. The primary scientific objectives of NEAR were to return data on the bulk properties, composition, mineralogy, morphology, internal mass distribution and magnetic field of Eros. Secondary objectives include studies of regolith...
Near-Earth Object -- Near-Earth Objects (NEO) are asteroids, comets and large meteoroids whose orbit intersects Earth's orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger. Due to their size and proximity, NEO's are also more easily accessible for spacecraft from Earth and are important for future scientific investigation and commercial development. In fact, some near-Earth asteroids can be reached with much less ΔV (change in velocity) than the Moon. In the United States, NASA...
Near-Earth Asteroid -- Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are asteroids whose orbit intersects Earth's orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger, as well as being most easily accessible for spacecraft from Earth. In fact, some near-Earth asteroids can be reached with much less ΔV than the Moon. The most famous near-Earth asteroid is 433 Eros that was visited by NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous probe. A few hundred such near-Earth asteroids are known, ranging in size up...
433 Eros -- The asteroid 433 Eros was named after the Greek god of love Eros. It is an S-type asteroid approximately 13 x 13 x 33 km in size, the second-largest near-Earth asteroid. It was visited by the NEAR Shoemaker probe, which first orbited it taking extensive photographs of its surface and then in 2001 at the end of its mission was landed on the asteroid's surface using only its maneuvering jets. Depending on where they stood on Eros, a person who weighed 200 pounds (90...
