NASA's Lucy probe captured this closeup of the asteroid Donaldjohanson from a distance of about 660 miles. (NASA/Goddard/SwRI/JHUAPL/NOIRLab)NASA’s Lucy spacecraft recently completed a successful flyby of its second asteroid target, capturing detailed images of the elongated and oddly shaped object known as Donaldjohanson. The close-ups revealed the asteroid’s distinct double-lobed form, confirming it as a...
Image of 2024 YR4 obtained on 27 January 2025. (NASA/Magdalena Ridge 2.4m telescope/New Mexico Institute of Technology/Ryan)Asteroid 2024 YR4 is making headlines again, but there's still no reason to panic—at least for Earth. The asteroid remains no threat to our planet, with collision odds stuck at a minuscule 0.001 percent. However, the Moon might not...
Credit: PixabayThe likelihood of a football field-sized asteroid striking Earth in 2032 has dropped significantly to just 0.001 percent, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Initially, the asteroid set a record for the highest impact probability ever recorded—3.1 percent by NASA and 2.8 percent by the ESA—prompting heightened monitoring from the planetary defense...
Credit: PixabayWhile the chances are slim, an asteroid large enough to destroy an entire city could strike Earth in less than eight years. However, even if this space rock is on a collision course, experts assure us that humanity now has ways to defend itself.NASA recently reported that the probability of asteroid 2024 YR4...
An artist's impression of an asteroid moving through spaceNASA/JPL-CaltechAsteroid 2024 YR4 recently made headlines after NASA estimated a 1-in-32 chance of impact in 2032—the highest probability ever recorded for a hazardous-sized asteroid. Fortunately, new observations have since cut that risk in half.Discovered in late December, the asteroid passed Earth at roughly twice the Moon’s...
Credit: PixabayFirst detected on August 7, 2024, by the University of Hawaiʻi’s ATLAS telescope in Sutherland, South Africa, asteroid 2024 PT5 has intrigued astronomers with its Earth-like orbit around the Sun. This small asteroid, approximately 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter, poses no threat to our planet.Orbiting the Sun in a path similar to...
Credit: DepositphotosNuclear Explosions as a Defense Against AsteroidsPrecisely detonating a nuclear bomb above an approaching asteroid could be our best chance of avoiding a catastrophic impact.Precisely detonating a nuclear bomb above an approaching asteroid could be our best chance of avoiding a catastrophic impact.A laboratory experiment conducted by an international team of researchers showed...
The lunar crater Giordano Bruno, captured here by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is home sweet home for a small near-Earth asteroid, according to a new studyNASA/Goddard/Arizona State UniversityScientists have long been able to trace many asteroids back to their parent bodies, whether planets or moons. However, they now assert for the first time that...
Astronomers have modeled the orbits of 1.3 million asteroids to check if any could bounce Apophis into an Earthbound pathDepositphotosIn 2029, a sizable asteroid will pass by Earth at such proximity that it will be observable without telescopic aid. Fortunately, calculations of its trajectory suggest that there's no risk of impact in the next...
NASA's asteroid-probing spacecraft, Lucy, has conducted its initial close-up observations, revealing an entirely unexpected find. The asteroid Dinkinesh not only possesses a small orbiting moon but, remarkably, this moon is composed of two objects fused together.Launched in 2021, Lucy is on track to explore more asteroids than any other spacecraft in history. Its primary...
