Newly discovered asteroid turns out to be Tesla Roadster launched into space
Elon Musk's sense of humor is out of this world. Seven years after the SpaceX CEO launched the Tesla Roadster into orbit, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts confused it with an asteroid earlier this month. One day after the Minor Planet Center registered 2018's CN41, astronomers revealed it […]
Astronomers announce discovery of new asteroid — only to learn it’s a Tesla sports car hurling through space
Total space cadets! Astronomers affiliated with Harvard University have announced the discovery of an unstable new asteroid, Zoom, near Earth. In fact, it's the Tesla sports car that was launched by Elon Musk as a publicity stunt seven years ago, scientists said Friday. The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, officially registered the new space […]
Asteroid nearly hits Earth, dramatically illuminating night sky over Siberia
The asteroid flared up in Earth's atmosphere after streaking past northern Siberia late Tuesday night, lighting up the sky in a blinding flash of light, dramatic video showed. This relatively small asteroid was only 27 inches wide (about the diameter of a bicycle tire) and posed no danger to Earth, but it was stillnice fireball […]
Stadium-sized asteroid to pass Earth Tuesday — what do you need to know?
Asteroid 2006 WB is scheduled to pass close to Earth on Tuesday, and astronomers say it's one of about 40,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs), but it's not even the most interesting. Lowell Observatory Astronomer and Asteroid Expert Nick Moskowitz Little is known about the asteroid being so close to Thanksgiving, he said. This is not because […]
Asteroid burns up in Earth’s atmosphere over Philippines
Photos show a small, “harmless” asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over the Philippines on Wednesday afternoon, generating a fireball that lit up the sky. The asteroid passed over the northernmost island of the Philippine archipelago at 17.6 kilometers per second, or 63,360 kilometers per hour, before burning up just before 1 p.m. New Scientist reported. Asteroid […]
Dinosaur-killing asteroid likely came from beyond Jupiter, study finds
Scientists investigating the asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs have published a new study which suggests it formed “beyond the orbit of Jupiter”. Survey results Published in Thursday’s issue of Science magazine Researchers said they made the decision after studying the geological remains of the impact in what […]
NASA first sample shows asteroid Bennu could be from small ocean world
NASA’s first asteroid sample is the cleanest of its kind. Now, back on Earth, samples taken from the asteroid Bennu are already yielding surprising discoveries about the early solar system and where asteroids came from. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft dropped rock and soil samples from the pristine asteroid into the Utah desert last year after a […]
Stadium-sized asteroid to buzz by Earth on Saturday: 5 things to know
An asteroid the size of a football stadium will pass between the Earth and the moon on Saturday morning, marking the second of two astronomical close encounters in three days. Near miss in this case is a relative term: Asteroid 2024 MK on Saturday came within 180,000 miles of Earth, while asteroid 2011 UL21 flew […]
‘Planet Killer’ asteroid will be one of the closest asteroids to plunge past planet Earth this year
It’s not uncommon for celebrities to visit to commemorate the event. But what if that event was the Tunguska event, which destroyed 849 square miles of Siberia in 1908? And what if the “celebrity” was a 1.4-mile planet-destroying asteroid? The United Nations has designated June 30th as International Asteroid Day. It is the anniversary of […]
NASA predicts asteroid has 72% chance of hitting Earth in 14 years
What would happen if a never-before-seen asteroid were hurtling towards us and potentially colliding with Earth? That’s the hypothetical scenario NASA astronomers tested in a recent simulation, as officials tried to plan for an asteroid that has a 72 percent chance of hitting Earth within just 14 years. After a theoretical timeline was presented to […]