In an alternate reality playing out at this year’s international Planetary Defense Conference, a fictional asteroid crashes over Europe, ‘destroying’ a region about 100 km wide near the Czech Republic and German border.
The scenario was imagined, but the people who took part are very real, and the lessons learnt will shape our ability to respond to dangerous … Read the rest of this article
A small asteroid flying past Earth on 12 October will provide scientists with a valuable opportunity to learn more about its orbit and composition. The campaign will exercise the international network of observatories and research organisations working on planetary defence.
Astronomers recently spotted asteroid 2012 TC4 under a collaboration between ESA and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to locate faint … Read the rest of this article
Occator Crater on Ceres is home to the brightest area on the entire dwarf planet.
At 57 miles (92 kilometers) wide and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) deep, Occator displays evidence of recent geologic activity.
NASA’s Dawn mission found that the bright spots may have been produced by upwelling of salt-rich liquids after the impact that formed the crater.
Pan and … Read the rest of this article
NASA is hunting for Near-Earth Objects, while also working on ways to defend Earth against them.… Read the rest of this article
June 30 has been declared by the United Nations to be International Asteroid Day.
To celebrate the day, there will be a 24-hour global telethon with scientists, astronauts space agencies and even rock stars taking part.
The Asteroid Day Live Stream event will be broadcast worldwide from Luxembourg as well as online and will highlight the threat posed to our … Read the rest of this article
What would we do if we discovered a large asteroid on course to impact Earth? While highly unlikely, that was the high-consequence scenario discussed by attendees at an Oct. 25 NASA-FEMA tabletop exercise in El Segundo, California.
The third in a series of exercises hosted jointly by NASA and FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — the simulation was … Read the rest of this article
In the tens of thousands of photos returned by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the interior of Ceres isn’t visible. But scientists have powerful data to study Ceres’ inner structure: Dawn’s own motion.
Since gravity dominates Dawn’s orbit at Ceres, scientists can measure variations in Ceres’ gravity by tracking subtle changes in the motion of the spacecraft. Using data from Dawn, scientists … Read the rest of this article
ESA is participating in today’s international Asteroid Day, to mark the largest observed asteroid strike in recorded history – the 1908 airburst above Tunguska in Siberia. The Agency monitors asteroids as well as performs scientific research, not to mention contingency planning: what could be done if an asteroid were incoming?
The Tunguska impact felled around 60 million trees across … Read the rest of this article
Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, announced on June 13, 2016, that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the banking institution Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI). T
With the agreement, the Government of Luxembourg is considering a direct capital investment in Planetary Resources Luxembourg. Research into … Read the rest of this article
Asteroid Day is an annual global movement to increase public awareness of potential asteroid impacts with Earth, and the importance of guarding against them. It was co-founded in 2015 by Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist for the rock band Queen, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and German filmmaker Grig Richters.
The following people spoke at the Tuesday, 9 February press … Read the rest of this article
Recommended Astronomy DVDs, Blu-Rays and 4K UHD Blu-Rays
4-Billion-Year-Old Relic From the Early Solar System Is Headed This Way
Hubble Space Telescope Finds the Most Distant Star Ever SeenThe Lessons Learned From a Simulated Asteroid Strike Over Europe
Teachers: Apply Now to the ESA Teach With Space Online Conference
First Panoramic View of Mars at Perseverance Rover Landing Site
NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Show Us More Stars at Higher Resolution
Animations of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Landing
NASA Is Providing Spanish-Language Coverage for the Livestream of the December 14 Solar Eclipse
NASA Names Artemis Team of Astronauts Eligible for Early Moon Missions
The Sun Now (Visible light)
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The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
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Aurora Oval
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Aurora Oval
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