Latest about Asteroids
Samples of 'alien' asteroid Ryugu are crawling with life — from Earth
Scientists have found microorganisms crawling over a sample retrieved from the 200 million-mile-distant asteroid Ryugu. But they almost certainly came from Earth.
Scientists trace origin of Earth's mysterious 'minimoon' days before it escapes into space for 30 years
A new study reveals that the asteroid 2024 PT5, which has been orbiting Earth for 2 months, may have a "lunar origin." However, it is about to break free from our planet, making it tricky to tell for sure.
An asteroid hit Earth just hours after being detected. It was the 3rd 'imminent impactor' of 2024
A small asteroid burned up in Earth's atmosphere off the coast of California just hours after being discovered and before impact monitoring systems had registered its trajectory.
'God of chaos' asteroid may be transformed by tremors and landslides during 2029 flyby of Earth, study finds
When the 'God of chaos' asteroid Apophis makes an ultraclose flyby of Earth in 2029, our planet's gravity may trigger tremors and landslides that totally change the asteroid's surface.
4 large asteroids, including a skyscraper-size 'city killer,' will zoom past Earth in a 12-hour span tomorrow (Oct. 24)
Four "potentially hazardous" space rocks, which are between 100 and 580 feet across, will all make their closest approaches to Earth within less than 12 hours of one another on Thursday (Oct. 24). Two of them were only discovered earlier this month.
Astronauts could mine asteroids for food someday, scientists say
Material harvested from asteroids could be used to sustain astronauts during long-duration space missions.
Phew! No 'doomsday' asteroids hide in famous broken comet's debris stream
The Taurid Meteoroid Stream, which is possibly responsible for the famous Tunguska and Chelyabinsk impacts, probably doesn't hide a civilization-killing asteroid.
Can you see Earth's new 'minimoon' with the naked eye?
On Sunday, Sept. 29, Earth captured a new "minimoon" called 2024 PT5. The bus-size asteroid is expected to orbit our planet for 57 days, but is too small to be visible to amateur skywatchers.
