Asteroid

Dozens of Earth-based telescopes were trained on the Dimorphos asteroid as it was struck by NASA’s DART spacecraft yesterday, but scientists also had some eyes in the sky – a CubeSat satellite deployed specifically to photograph the event.

An audacious planetary defense mission reached a historic crescendo today, with a NASA probe spectacularly crashing into the asteroid Dimorphos in an important rehearsal for how we might deflect hazardous asteroids in the future.

Today, NASA will explore a planetary defense technique through a world-first mission to crash into the asteroid Dimorphos and alter its orbit. We checked in with the team behind this landmark mission to understand some of the mechanics at play.

Australian scientists have discovered strangely folded diamonds in rare meteorite samples. In investigating how they came to form, the team found evidence that they were forged in a cataclysm on an ancient dwarf planet.

Scientists have discovered a new crater in the seabed of the North Atlantic Ocean that seems to date to the end of the Cretaceous period. That suggests the extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs could have been triggered by multiple impacts.

James Webb Space Telescope's historic first images showed a galaxy cluster billions of light-years away, but now it’s turned its sights on something much closer to home. NASA has released infrared images of Jupiter used to test Webb's instruments.

In October 2020, NASA’s OSRISIS-REx spacecraft made history by touching down on the asteroid Bennu and grabbing a sample of rock and debris. New analysis of this encounter has revealed the probe was lucky to avoid sinking into the asteroid's surface.

A six-year round trip to an asteroid has yielded unprecedented insights into the formation of the solar system. Scientists have analyzed samples returned from asteroid Ryugu, finding a detailed history starting with the oldest material ever found.

A history-making NASA spacecraft has just received a new lease on life. OSIRIS-REx, which is currently on its way back to Earth with rock samples from asteroid Bennu, will now have its mission extended to visit another asteroid, Apophis.

With less than an hour's worth of data, NASA managed to predict that a 2-meter asteroid would impact in the Earth's atmosphere on March 11 at 5:23 pm EST, over the Norwegian Sea 470 km off the east coast of Greenland.

We may not have long to react should we discover a deadly asteroid on a collision course. NASA is now investigating a proposal for a defense system that could break apart a hazardous space rock just days or even hours before a potential Earth strike.

Astronomers had a tense January, as a newly discovered space rock became the riskiest asteroid in a decade – then hid behind the Moon for a week. Thankfully, further observations have found that it poses no risk to Earth when it swings by next year.