way? The mission succeeded almost immediately. Observations showed that the collision shortened the orbital period of the asteroid moon Dimorphos around its larger companion Didymos by about 33 minutes. But scientists suspected something more subtle...

Martian moons Phobos and Deimos from very far away as a part of a practice for the satellite search that we’ll use at the asteroid Psyche to look for any moonlets there.” The imaging campaign proved that the spacecraft can acquire valuable data while...

the team to track thousands of moving objects simultaneously, providing a rare glimpse into the chaotic motion of the asteroid belt. The Mystery of the 2.2-Hour Spin Barrier To understand why this discovery is so shocking, one must first understand the...

3:1 mean‑motion resonance with Jupiter, a zone where the giant planet’s gravity can destabilize asteroid orbits. When the asteroid fragmented, many pieces were swiftly injected into this resonant pathway, funneling material inward toward Mercury, Venus,...

past Earth at an exceptionally close distance on April 13, 2029. ESA says the mission will let researchers monitor, from the asteroid’s surface, how Earth’s gravity reshapes a large near‑Earth object during this rare encounter. Why the 2029 Apophis...

here for the rigors of asteroid flybys. During the encounter with Torifune, the LALT instrument fired two pulses at the asteroid. The first measurement was recorded from a distance of approximately 20 kilometers, followed by a second reading from about...

projections show that observers across Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and eastern South America may catch a glimpse of the asteroid as it arcs across the sky. Local darkness, cloud cover, and light pollution will dictate actual observing conditions,...

they formed closer to the Sun, revealing new insights into the solar system’s early history. Dust samples retrieved from the asteroid Bennu are challenging long-held assumptions about where the building blocks of our Solar System originated. By...

unique phenomena they create. What is an Asteroid? Asteroids are rocky bodies that orbit the Sun, primarily found within the asteroid belt—a region located between Mars and Jupiter. These space rocks range significantly in size, from a few meters to...

JWST observations reveal shifting rings around the asteroid Chariklo, offering groundbreaking new insights into the evolution of our distant solar system. New data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unveiled a surprising level of...

Study finds the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs was a rare CO chondrite, with fine atmospheric debris—not sulfur—driving the global extinction. A new analysis of nickel isotopes trapped in the thin clay layer that marks the Cretaceous‑Paleogene...

two nuclear‑defence concepts through extensive simulations. The first mirrors earlier proposals: a spacecraft impacts the asteroid’s surface, creating a shallow crater, and a nuclear device detonates within it. The second, termed a “pre‑excavation...

ratios trapped in the thin, globally distributed layer of impact debris that settled 66 million years ago after the asteroid slammed into what is now the Yucatán Peninsula. By comparing these signatures with a catalog of known meteorite families, they...

scientists will use the rare 38,000 km flyby as a vital test for future planetary defense strategies. On April 13, 2029, the asteroid 99942 Apophis will make a remarkably close approach to Earth, skimming by at a distance of approximately 38,000...

Tiny chemical clues inside Moon dust show what kinds of asteroids hit the Earth–Moon system for billions of years, and why those impacts added very little water to Earth. Earth has a short memory. Its surface is always changing as continents move,...

isotope geochemistry at ETH Zurich. Her team’s findings, recently published in the journal Science Advances, reveal that the asteroid acts as a pristine time capsule, preserving the chemical signatures of the solar system’s birth 4.5 billion years ago....

Researchers also highlighted the difficulty posed by bodies that remain hidden until shortly before a close approach. The asteroid 2024 MK, roughly 150 meters across, was discovered with only about 13 days of warning, according to the study. Limitations...

Laboratory tests show one of Earth’s toughest organisms can withstand pressures similar to asteroid ejection from Mars, reshaping debates about how life might travel between worlds. For centuries, scientists and philosophers have wondered whether life...

the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on 29 May 2025, Tianwen‑2 is tasked with conducting an in‑depth study of the asteroid and ferrying back fragments to the planet. The data gathered are expected to shed light on the object’s birth, makeup...

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...