offering a convenient reference plane for testing extreme transfer trajectories. Although later observations refined the asteroid’s trajectory, the early orbital solution still serves as a fixed geometric baseline. Souza imposed a strict rule: any...

a shorter time span. The Lucy team plans to get more images of Orus before the spacecraft’s Nov. 2028 encounter with the asteroid.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Southwest Research Institute/JHU-APL According to NASA, the observations were taken in spring, with...

the design and navigation of future deep-space missions. A Window into Planetary Origins The ultimate destination, the asteroid 16 Psyche, measures approximately 173 miles (280 kilometers) across. Scientists believe the object may represent the exposed...

remained a silent neighbor until Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky identified it in August. Designated 2026 QQ8, the asteroid has been officially categorized by the Minor Planet Center as a temporary mini-moon. On October 29, researchers...

Types While it is clearly an H5 ordinary chondrite, connecting it to a specific asteroid family or parent body in the asteroid belt is challenging. Future work comparing its composition with asteroid spectral data may provide clues. Deeper Mineralogical...

observations with “precovery” data—archival images from the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile, recovered via the Asteroid Institute’s ADAM service—astronomers were able to map the object’s trajectory across more than a decade. Defining a Dwarf...

makeup. According to the Science Advances article, the combined data suggest the meteorite most likely originated in the asteroid belt. Recovering the stone shortly after impact also minimized terrestrial contamination, allowing researchers to examine...

from the mass. Credit: Museums Victoria According to a 2019 scientific description, the meteorite likely originated from the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter. By utilizing carbon-14 dating to measure the radioactive decay of isotopes...

of asteroid Bennu samples has uncovered a surprising clue about the early history and formation of our solar system. The asteroid Bennu, a relic of the solar system’s violent infancy, is revealing secrets about the architecture of our cosmic...

A Japanese spacecraft will explore Mars’ mysterious moons and attempt a historic sample return mission in collaboration with NASA. An ambitious international space endeavor is gearing up for a historic voyage to the Martian moons, with NASA playing a...

Geologists have finally solved the mystery of a massive Siberian limestone cone, revealing how unique geological forces shaped the enigmatic structure. Deep within the dense forests of the Patom Highlands in eastern Siberia, a massive, pale mound of...

ESA’s Hera mission is preparing for a critical 93-minute engine burn as it approaches the asteroid system reshaped by NASA’s historic DART impact. The European Space Agency (ESA) is initiating a critical phase in its Hera mission, with a scheduled...

A massive collision that carved the Moon’s largest basin appears to have driven widespread volatile loss, leaving an isotopic fingerprint that still survives in lunar materials billions of years later. From Earth, the Moon appears calm and unchanging,...

celestial structures, providing a high-stakes preview of the discoveries to come. Uncharted Configurations in the Asteroid Belt Since its launch on October 16, 2021, the 12-year mission has been tasked with exploring 11 different asteroids, which serve...

Astronomers have developed a new geometric method to accurately simulate the complex orbital motion of binary asteroids with irregular shapes. Predicting the long-term behavior of binary asteroid systems—where two celestial bodies dance in a tight...

New research suggests that comets may not have seeded life on Earth after all, as atmospheric heat and dilution likely destroyed vital organic ingredients. The long-standing hypothesis that comets acted as celestial delivery trucks, depositing the...

its 2029 flyby, researchers have uncovered a new risk involving Earth’s dense cloud of orbiting space debris. When the asteroid 99942 Apophis makes its historic approach to Earth on April 13, 2029, it will pass within 20,000 miles of our planet. While...

Could a hidden companion star, known as Nemesis, be triggering Earth’s mass extinctions? A physicist revisits the mysterious hypothesis behind comet showers. For decades, scientists have grappled with the mystery of whether an elusive, unseen stellar...

roughly 31,000 km above the surface—closer than many geostationary satellites. Updated orbital calculations confirm that the asteroid poses no impact threat during this encounter, overturning earlier concerns about potential future collisions. Rather...

Scientists have discovered a massive lunar crater, larger than the Roman Colosseum, hidden within 17 months of detailed moon surface data. While conducting a routine examination of lunar imagery on October 24, 2025, Robert Wagner, an image-processing...