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rocks
from space
How
an asteroid impact causes an extinction
 OCTOBER:
While
the impact destroys one side of the planet, shockwaves converge to devastate
the opposite side of Earth.
Asteroids
and tsunami:
Good news and bad
 SEPTEMBER:
Asteroids that hit an ocean can destroy entire shorelines with
giant waves. At least when the dust settles there isn't as much dust.
Chicken
Little was right: The sky is falling
The
threat of impact. The mining of asteroids. Microbes hitching a ride
from Mars to Earth? In the first of his monthly columns, Michael Paine
gives us an overview of rocks from space.
future
mission
Spacecraft
to deploy nanorover with plastic muscles on surface of an asteroid
web
news
07/30:
All
that way, and Deep Space 1 misses the shot / ABC
07/29: Threat
of asteroid collision may be just a movie, after all / Christian
Science Monitor
07/26: Amateurs
contribute to asteroid watch / SpaceDaily
07/23: Gold in them
thar asteroids! / BBC
07/14:
SpaceGuard office might get asteroid-hunting programs off the ground
/ SpaceDaily
web
resources ...
...
descriptions
Nine
Planets: technical, but thorough description
StarDate:
less technical description
NSSDC:
images
Information on Asteroid
1997 XF11: The controversial "doomsday" asteroid
... hazards
NASA's Near-Earth
Asteroid Tracking page
Spacewatch program
Tracks NEOs
Spaceguard Foundation
International monitoring body
Impact Hazard:
Opinions on a NASA site
Impact craters:
Calvin J. Hamilton
Michael
Paine has current info on NEOs, related links
Tsunami
from asteroid/comet impact from Michael Paine
... more
PERMANENT
- asteroid mining
NEAP
- Spacedev Corp asteroid prospecting mission.
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Asteroid
has small chance of hitting Earth
10/05:
Rock has an extremely small chance of hitting Earth in 2042 or 2050,
prompting researchers to suggest it needs further study quickly, before
it disappears.
Earth
may have many satellites, however catlike
 09/29:
Think the Moon is our only natural satellite? New research shows you
probably need to think again.
Amateur
asteroid hunters part of new golden age of astronomy
 09/20:
On the first night of a new amateur program in New Zealand, an asteroid
is found.
Hunt
for threatening asteroids goes down under
 09/10:
Refurbished telescope will search southern skies, where no one has
been looking.
Images
of asteroid that crossed Earth's orbit show strange world
 08/27:
Detailed images of an asteroid that was seen before now show an irregular
shape and evidence of a slow orbit.
Deep
Space 1 has date with asteroid, location unknown
 07/27:
Smart craft hunting for tiny rock on eve of high-speed flyby that
could yield pictures and other information.
Space
collision helped create Chesapeake Bay, leaves drinking water salty
 07/07:
A comet or asteroid slammed into Earth 35 million years ago, carving
the largest crater ever found in the United States.
Melted
asteroid yields surprises in Arizona crater
 07/06:
High velocity object mostly melted on impact.
Dusty
surfaces give clues
to origin of Near-Earth Asteroids
05/14: Threat to Earth from collisions between larger asteroids between
Mars and Jupiter.
Controversial
asteroid may make close pass in 2027
05/18: Asteroid's path could be altered by Earth's gravity, increasing
the chances of an impact on some later orbit.
Published
threat of possible asteroid impact stirs controversy
04/13: A scientific paper detailing the possible impact of an asteroid
with Earth in 2039 stirred a controversy today over whether the material
should have been posted on the Web before going through peer review.
Huge
Earthly impact likely created the Moon
03/16: New research supports the theory that the Moon was created
when a Mars-sized object slammed into Earth billions of years ago,
scientists said today. explore>
By
chance, Hubble spots small asteroid that may cross path of Mars
 03/05:
A wayward, mile-wide patch of rocky debris wandered into the image.
Seafloor
crater is evidence of giant asteroid
02/08: About 150 million years ago, a huge asteroid crashed into the
ocean off the northern coast of Norway, flinging mud and rocks into
the air in a violent explosion. Waves engulfed coastal regions of
Canada and Russia.
related
news zones
with Web links
All space news
. Asteroids
. Comets
& Meteors .
Hubble .
Mars .
Moon .
Space missions .
Solar system
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Asteroid threat
eliminated
10/08: Earlier this week we reported that asteroid
1999 RM45 had a very small chance of hitting Earth in 2042 or 2050.
Researchers said more study was necessary, and a quick reaction has
brought relief: Fresh observations by Rob McNaught, an astronomer with
the Australian National University, has eliminated the possibility that
the asteroid will cross Earth's path.
Data from Deep
Space 1
08/02: Though mostly missing in its effort to take snapshots of asteroid
Braille, the Deep Space 1 probe has returned useful images, NASA scientists
say. The craft's infrared camera has provided data that scientists will
use to determine the asteroid's composition. And a total of four black-and-white
images were taken, two about 70 minutes before the closest approach
and two more about 15 minutes after the flyby. The images, said to be
of marginal quality, have not yet been released.
Far-off
rendezvous
07/29: Deep Space 1 made a successful flyby of asteroid Braille last
night, according to NASA. Results of the close encounter are expected
to be released August 3. [More
on the mission]
Today sure flew
by!
07/23: A day in the life of one recently discovered asteroid is only
10.7 minutes long. That's how much time it takes asteroid 1998-KY26
to spin around on its axis. By comparison, Earth rotates once every
24 hours or so -- which makes a day what it is. KY26's spin rate is
almost 60 times faster than any other known asteroid, scientists say.
Many asteroids are thought to be crumbling piles of loose rubble, a
theory supported by their lumbering spin rates. But KY26's blistering
pace means the 100-foot-wide body is a strong, single chunk of rock,
probably sent reeling from a parent asteroid in some ancient space collision,
says James V. Scotti, co-author of a paper on the asteroid in this week's
journal Science. Understanding asteroid composition may prove useful,
scientists say, if we ever need to deflect one away from Earth.
Asteroid threat
lowered
07/13: In April, we reported to you that asteroid 1999 AN-10 had a chance,
albeit a small one, of hitting Earth sometime early next century. New
calculations based on a 1955 photograph of the object have all but removed
the threat, says Brian Marsden of the Minor Planet Center. In 2044,
a year when an impact had been thought possible, the object will pass
through the inner solar system more than 200 million miles away from
Earth, on the far side of the Sun, Marsden said yesterday. There is
no chance of impact through at least 2076.
Better asteroid
eyes
06/22: There are up to 2,000 large asteroids
(0.6 mile and up) estimated to approach within 30 million miles of Earth;
fewer than 20 percent have been found. Help is on the way in the form
of a refurbished telescope. NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)
team will computerize the pointing system of a 48-inch telescope atop
Palomar Mountain near San Diego, and they'll add a new electronic camera.
The new setup will see more of the sky, and deeper into it, than the
team's current telescope. Says project manager Steven Pravdo: "Imagine
watching the Super Bowl on your 25-inch TV and then switching to an
80-inch giant screen TV."
Space rubble
06/03: The deadly cosmic chunks of rock many earthlings worry so much
about may more often be piles of rubble, a researcher said this week.
In studying more than 800 asteroids, Mark Hammergren of the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory found that many are elongated and orbit
at about half the speed of more spherical asteroids, indicating the
material is not tightly bound. Hammergren said the same processes that
bind piles of sand on earth likely hold the asteroids together. In asteroid
land, though, a "landslide" might result in material being
flung off into space forever.
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