Asteroids « Astronautica

The View from Space Could Change the World, Virgin Galactic Says February 11, 2019
Virgin Galactic wants to make the world a better place by giving a lot more people some much-needed perspective. […]
On This Day in Space! Feb. 11, 2010: NASA Launches Solar Dynamics Observatory February 11, 2019
On Feb. 11, 2010, NASA launched a spacecraft to study the inner workings of the sun: the Solar Dynamics Observatory. See how it happened here in our On This Day in Space video series. […]
NASA Center Director Nominated to Lead National Reconnaissance Office February 11, 2019
The White House has nominated a longtime NASA center director and former acting administrator to be the next director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). […]
SpaceX Dragon Crew Demo-1 Flight to Space Station: What to Expect February 11, 2019
Here's what you need to know about SpaceX's Crew Dragon astronaut taxi, its upcoming shakeout flight to the space station and the short-term future of human spaceflight. […]
Ultima Thule Beyond Pluto Is Flat Like a Pancake (and Not a Space Snowman After All) February 11, 2019
The final photos that NASA's New Horizons spacecraft snapped of Ultima Thule during the probe's epic Jan. 1 flyby reveal the distant object to be much flatter than scientists had thought. […]
Some Assembly Required: Giant Next-Generation Space Telescopes Could Be Built Off Earth February 11, 2019
When it comes to telescopes, size matters. […]
After a Slow Start, Milky Way's Neighbors Have Upped Their Star-Forming Game February 11, 2019
As they prepare for their first lap around the Milky Way, our galaxy's nearest neighbors have shown a dramatic increase in star formation. […]
Geologists Figured Out Where the Most Remote Part of the Ocean Came From February 11, 2019
The Australian-Antarctic Ridge was expected to have emerged with the Pacific to its East. The real story was a surprise to geologists. […]
European Space Agency Celebrates Women in Science with Astro Pi Challenge February 11, 2019
Coding will become even more important in space exploration as humans explore faraway places, says a Canadian astronaut candidate in a new video. […]
Campaign Launched to 'Revive the Saturn V' Vertical Rocket Replica February 11, 2019
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama has launched an effort to return its one-of-a-kind standing replica of the Saturn V moon rocket to its like-new condition in time for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. […]
A Comet, Meteor, Nebula and the Pleiades Combine into One Epic Space Photo February 11, 2019
A deep-space panorama shows Comet 46P/Wirtanen, the Pleiades star cluster and a meteor crossing in front of the California Nebula. […]
SpaceX's Raptor Engine Hits Power Level for Starship Launches, Elon Musk Says February 11, 2019
A test fire of SpaceX's newest engine reached the power level necessary for the company's next round of rocket designs, CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter. […]
NASA Spies InSight Mars Lander from Space as It Hunts Marsquakes (Photos) February 11, 2019
NASA's InSight lander has been busy on Mars preparing to begin scientific observations, and the mission passed another milestone this weekend, when the spacecraft began preparing to deploy its final instrument. […]
Image of the Day February 11, 2019
The Milky Way galaxy shimmers over Portugal's Lake Alqueva in this sunset view by astrophotographer Sérgio Conceição. To the left of the galaxy's dusty core, the brightest object in the sky is the planet Mars. […]
No, You Won’t See an 'Apocalypse Asteroid' in the Sky on Valentine's Day February 11, 2019
Despite what you may have heard, the Valentine’s Day sky won't provide a glimpse of our impending doom. (Unless you're a star-crossed lover, of course.) […]
You Can See Mars Near the Moon Tonight! Here's Where to Look. February 10, 2019
Mars and the crescent moon will team up in a delightful celestial sight tonight (Feb. 10) and NASA has some tips to help you spot the Red Planet in the night sky. […]
Israel's 1st Moon Lander: The SpaceIL Beresheet Lunar Mission in Pictures February 9, 2019
SpaceIL's historic mission to the moon with the Beresheet lander is expected to launch from SpaceX Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It will be the first privately developed moon mission and you can see it here in photos! […]
Orion Span Falls Far Short of Funding Goal to Support Its Commercial Space Station Ambitions February 9, 2019
A startup with visions of developing private space stations raised only a small fraction of the funding it sought in a recent equity crowdfunding campaign, with no guarantee that it will be able to retain that funding. […]
Ominous Cracks Form in the Northern Hemisphere's Longest Floating Glacier February 9, 2019
Is Greenland's Petermann Glacier due for another big break? […]
Earth Once Swallowed Its Own Superocean. Could It Happen Again? February 9, 2019
An ancient supercontinent turned inside out as the Earth swallowed its own ocean some 700 million years ago, new research suggests. […]

Hubble Captures First Images of Aftermath of Possible Asteroid Collision

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured the first snapshots of a suspected asteroid collision. The images show a bizarre X-shaped object at the head of a comet-like trail of material.

In January, astronomers began using Hubble to track the object for five months. They thought they had witnessed a fresh asteroid collision, but were surprised to learn the collision occurred in early 2009.

“We expected the debris field to expand dramatically, like shrapnel flying from a hand grenade,” said astronomer David Jewitt of the University of California in Los Angeles, who is a leader of the Hubble observations. “But what happened was quite the opposite. We found that the object is expanding very, very slowly.”

The peculiar object, dubbed P/2010 A2, was found cruising around the asteroid belt, a reservoir of millions of rocky bodies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is estimated modest-sized asteroids smash into each other about once a year. When the objects collide, they inject dust into interplanetary space. But until now, astronomers have relied on models to make predictions about the frequency of these collisions and the amount of dust produced.

Catching colliding asteroids is difficult because large impacts are [...]

Rosetta lines up for spectacular asteroid flyby

Asteroid Lutetia is growing larger in Rosetta’s view as the ESA spacecraft zooms in for a spectacular flyby at 18:10 CEST today. Lutetia is the largest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft.

Rosetta is perfectly lined up to skim by at a distance of 3162 km, close enough to enable detailed scientific investigations of its surface and environment. The spacecraft is expected to pass Lutetia at a relative speed of 54 000 km/h, when both are some 454 million km from Earth.

As Lutetia is a major scientific target of Rosetta’s mission, most of the orbiter and comet lander instruments will be on for flyby, studying the asteroid’s surface, dust cloud, exosphere, magnetic field, mass and density.

Although most scientific observations will be performed in the next few hours, several instruments have been switched on for several days and will continue observing in the hours after flyby.

The OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) camera has already started acquiring images that show surface details not visible from ground telescopes.

New study reveals twice as many asteroids as previously believed

Asteroids in our Solar System may be more numerous than previously thought, according to the first systematic search for these objects performed in the infrared, with ESA’s Infrared Space Observatory, ISO.

The ISO Deep Asteroid Search indicates that there are between 1.1 million and 1.9 million ‘space rocks’ larger than one kilometre in diameter in the so-called ‘main asteroid belt’, about twice as many as previously believed. However, astronomers think it is premature to revise current assessments of the risk of Earth being hit by an asteroid.

Despite being in our own Solar System, asteroids can be more difficult to study than very distant galaxies. With sizes of up to one thousand kilometres in diameter, the brightness of these rocky objects may vary considerably in just a few minutes. They move very quickly with respect to the stars – they have been dubbed ‘vermin of the sky’ because they often appear as trails on long exposure images.

This elusiveness explains why their actual number and size distribution remains uncertain. Most of the almost 40,000 asteroids catalogued so far (1) orbit the Sun forming the ‘main asteroid belt’, between Mars and Jupiter, too far to pose any threat to [...]

Oferte Emag

Categories

Space

Hubble Captures First Images of Aftermath of Possible Asteroid Collision

Rosetta lines up for spectacular asteroid flyby

New study reveals twice as many asteroids as previously believed

Calendar

Oferte Emag

Categories

Space

Hubble Captures First Images of Aftermath of Possible Asteroid Collision

Rosetta lines up for spectacular asteroid flyby

New study reveals twice as many asteroids as previously believed

Calendar

Tags