Asteroid
hideAsteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar System; they are smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids. The term "asteroid" has historically been applied primarily to bodies in the inner Solar System since the outer Solar System was poorly known when it came into common usage. The distinction between asteroids and comets is made on visual appearance: Comets show a perceptible coma while asteroids do not.
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News tagged with asteroid
Dawn Enters Asteroid Belt -- For Good
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 16, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (7) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft re-entered our solar system's asteroid belt today, Nov. 13, and this time it will stay there.
Research gives new insights into 4 billion year-old meteorites
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have gained new insight into the makeup of ancient meteorites called Carbonaceous Chondrites, in research published in the October edition of the journal Earth Science and Planetary Le ...
First view of Earth as Rosetta approaches home
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- This spectacular image of our home planet was captured by the OSIRIS instrument on ESA's Rosetta comet chaser earlier today as the spacecraft approached Earth for the third and final swingby. ...
A Tale of Planetary Woe (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 11, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (11) |
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Once upon a time — roughly four billion years ago — Mars was warm and wet, much like Earth. Liquid water flowed on the Martian surface in long rivers that emptied into shallow seas. A thick atmosphere blanketed ...
Unusual meteorite found by time-lapse camera observatory
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual meteorite with an interesting orbit has been tracked to the ground using a photographic observatory that records time-lapse images of fireballs traveling across the sky.
LADEE Mission to Study the Moon's Fragile Atmosphere
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 26, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
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Right now, the Moon is a ghost town. Nothing stirs. Here and there, an abandoned Apollo rover — or the dusty base of a lunar lander — linger as silent testimony to past human activity. But these days, only ...
NASA scientist: No Doomsday in 2012
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 20, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (32) |
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According to NASA scientist David Morrison, the widespread Internet rumor that the world will end in 2012 due to some astronomical event is a hoax. Dr. Morrison attributes the hype to 'cosmophobia' fueled ...
Galileo's Jupiter Journey Began Two Decades Ago
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 19, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Galileo spacecraft began what would become a 14-year odyssey of exploration 20 years ago this Sunday, Oct. 18. Galileo was humanity's first emissary to orbit a planet in the outer solar ...
Study of first high-resolution images of Pallas confirms asteroid is actually a protoplanet
Oct 12, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (21) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Britney E. Schmidt, a UCLA doctoral student in the department of Earth and space sciences, wasn't sure what she'd glean from images of the asteroid Pallas taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. ...
NASA Refines Asteroid Apophis' Path Toward Earth
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 07, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (12) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth ...
New aluminum-water rocket propellant promising for future space missions
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 07, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (21) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are developing a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminum" powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants ...
Dinosaur-Killer was Soft on Algae
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 02, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
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The asteroid impact that many researchers claim was the cause of the dinosaur die-off was bad news for marine life at the time as well. But new research shows that microalgae - one of the primary producers ...
Twin Keck telescopes probe dual dust disks
Sep 24, 2009 |
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Astronomers using the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have explored one of the most compact dust disks ever resolved around another star. If placed in our own solar system, ...
How to Make a Planet: Spitzer Spots Clump of Swirling Planetary Material
Sep 23, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have witnessed odd behavior around a young star. Something, perhaps another star or a planet, appears to be pushing a clump of planet-forming material around. The observations, ...
Asteroid Juno Grabs the Spotlight
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 17, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the asteroid Juno, giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in the night sky. Those who get out to a dark, unpolluted ...
