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UrduLawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists recently received and will analyze samples from the asteroid Bennu that will help explain how it formed and where it came from.
Tag: Asteroids
Probing the effects of interplanetary space on asteroid Ryugu
Samples reveal evidence of changes experienced by the surface of asteroid Ryugu, some probably due to micrometeoroid bombardment.
Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids
Astronomers and volunteer citizen scientists used Hubble’s unique capabilities to identify a largely unseen population of very small asteroids. The treasure hunt required perusing 37,000 archived Hubble images spanning 19 years. The payoff? Finding 1,701 asteroid trails, with 1,031 of the asteroids previously uncatalogued. About 400 of these uncatalogued asteroids are smaller than 1 kilometer.
Can Astronomers Use Radar to Spot a Cataclysmic Asteroid?
How does ground-based astronomical radar expand our understanding of the Universe? By allowing us to study our nearby Solar System, and everything in it, in unprecedented detail. Radar can reveal the surface and ancient geology of planets and their moons, letting us trace their evolution.
New algorithm ensnares its first ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid
An asteroid discovery algorithm — designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky — has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth’s vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on.
50 years after NASA’s Apollo mission, moon rocks still have secrets to reveal
NASA scientists are using neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study moon rocks collected from the Apollo space missions. The samples are made of dust and rock fragments that combined and struck the moon’s surface possibly billions of years ago. As plans to travel to Mars progress, insights into the rocks could reveal more about the formation of the solar system and where water might be found on the moon.
Meteorites reveal likely origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals
By analysing meteorites, Imperial researchers have uncovered the likely far-flung origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals, some of which form the building blocks of life.
Asteroid findings from specks of space dust could save the planet
Curtin University-led research into the durability and age of an ancient asteroid made of rocky rubble and dust, revealed significant findings that could contribute to potentially saving the planet if one ever hurtled toward Earth.
Planetary science: Mars megatsunami may have been caused by Chicxulub-like asteroid impact
A Martian megatsunami may have been caused by an asteroid collision similar to the Chicxulub impact – which contributed to the mass extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs on Earth 66 million years ago – in a shallow ocean region, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
Experts say the discovery of Earthbound asteroids and comets needs improvement; too many satellites could prevent discovery
A new survey of planetary defense experts from Apollo Academic Surveys and Olin College of Engineering reports that discovery of asteroids and comets needs improvement. In addition, the proliferation of commercial satellites could prevent them from identifying Earthbound asteroids and comets.
Gaia Space Telescope Rocks the Science of Asteroids
The European Gaia space mission has produced an unprecedented amount of new, improved, and detailed data for almost two billion objects in the Milky Way galaxy and the surrounding cosmos.
NAU scientist joins extended OSIRIS-REx mission to visit another asteroid
Because of the potential to deepen our understanding of the solar system and beyond, NASA this week extended the missions of eight of its spacecraft, including OSIRIS-REx—and NAU planetary geologist Chris Haberle will be one of the scientists involved in the newly extended project.
Could the blueprint for life have been generated in asteroids?
Using new analyses, scientists have just found the last two of the five informational units of DNA and RNA that had yet to be discovered in samples from meteorites.
Near-earth asteroid might be a lost fragment of the moon
A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment by a team of astronomers led by the University of Arizona.
Geologists propose theory about a famous asteroid
Vesta was hit by two other large asteroids which left large impact craters so big they cover most of the southern hemisphere of Vesta. These impacts are thought to have ejected rocky material into space. Some of these rocks reached Earth as meteorites so scientists now have actual rock samples from Vesta to study its geochemistry.
Polymers in Meteorites Provide Clues to Early Solar System
Meteorites that do not experience high temperatures at any point in their existence provide a good record of complex chemistry present when or before our solar system was formed. So researchers have examined individual amino acids in these meteorites, many of which are not in present-day organisms. In Physics of Fluids, researchers show the existence of a systematic group of amino acid polymers across several members of the oldest meteorite class, the CV3 type.
Research demonstrates that asteroid deflection can be enhanced by different neutron energies
A research collaboration between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Air Force Institute of Technology investigates how the neutron energy output from a nuclear device detonation can affect the deflection of an asteroid.
Scientists compared the resulting asteroid deflection from two different neutron energy sources, representative of fission and fusion neutrons, allowing for side-by-side comparisons. The goal was to understand which neutron energies released from a nuclear explosion are better for deflecting an asteroid and why, potentially paving the way for optimized deflection performance.
Farming on asteroids: Science future, not science fiction
If you want to learn how to farm successfully and grow crops, here’s a novel place to turn to:
The UND Department of Space Studies.
Then again, this advice might be a tad limited, given that not many are aspiring to grow crops on asteroids millions of miles from Earth.
But UND Assistant Professor of Space Studies Sherry Fieber-Beyer is. And in fact, she’s one of the first in her field who’s seriously looking into such an idea.
How Rocks Rusted on Earth and Turned Red
How did rocks rust on Earth and turn red? A Rutgers-led study has shed new light on the important phenomenon and will help address questions about the Late Triassic climate more than 200 million years ago, when greenhouse gas levels were high enough to be a model for what our planet may be like in the future.
How Planets May Form After Dust Sticks Together
Scientists may have figured out how dust particles can stick together to form planets, according to a Rutgers co-authored study that may also help to improve industrial processes. In homes, adhesion on contact can cause fine particles to form dust bunnies. Similarly in outer space, adhesion causes dust particles to stick together. Large particles, however, can combine due to gravity – an essential process in forming asteroids and planets. But between these two extremes, how aggregates grow has largely been a mystery until now.
Olin College Professor Awarded NASA Grant
Assistant Professor of Computational Physics and Planetary Science Carrie Nugent has been awarded a three-year grant from NASA to detect asteroids in archival data. This work will be in collaboration with Dr. James “Gerbs” Bauer at the University of Maryland.
Keeping Earth safe from impact: Astronomer worked with international team to conduct global planetary defense exercise
Scientists have discovered nearly all “extinction-scale” near-Earth objects, or NEOs (asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter) and determined they pose no risk of impact in the near future. But there are still thousands of smaller NEOs that pose a…