Related topics: earth , solar system , comet , meteorite
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.
For more information about Asteroid, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with asteroid
Superior Super Earths
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 30, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (55) |
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Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes to sustaining life. They could also provide an answer to ...
Solar System's Young Twin Has Two Asteroid Belts
Oct 27, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (35) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have discovered that the nearby star Epsilon Eridani has two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring, making it a triple-ring system. The inner asteroid belt is a virtual twin ...
NASA scientist: No Doomsday in 2012
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 20, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (32) |
21
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 ...
Discovery of the source of the most common meteorites
Jul 10, 2008 |
4.1 / 5 (26) |
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Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first discovery by T. Mothé-Diniz (Brazil) and D. Nesvorný (USA) of asteroids with a spectrum similar to that of ordinary chondrites, the meteoritic material that m ...
Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate (w/ Video)
Dec 15, 2009 |
5 / 5 (21) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet ...
Study of first high-resolution images of Pallas confirms asteroid is actually a protoplanet
Oct 12, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (22) |
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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. ...
New aluminum-water rocket propellant promising for future space missions
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 07, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (21) |
1
(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 ...
MIT solves puzzle of meteorite-asteroid link: New analysis makes it possible to 'know our enemy'
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 13, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (20) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- For the last few years, astronomers have faced a puzzle: The vast majority of asteroids that come near the Earth are of a type that matches only a tiny fraction of the meteorites that most frequently hit ...
How to deflect asteroids and save the Earth
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 16, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (20) |
19
You may want to thank David French in advance. Because, in the event that a comet or asteroid comes hurtling toward Earth, he may be the guy responsible for saving the entire planet.
Researchers make rare meteorite find using new camera network in Australian desert
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 17, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (19) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered where in the Solar System it came from, in a very rare finding published today ...
Scientists Find Asteroids Are Missing, and Possibly Why
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (20) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The patterns of missing asteroids are like the footprints of wandering giant planets preserved in the asteroid belt.
Space rock gives Earth a close shave
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 03, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (16) |
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An asteroid of a similar size to a rock that exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed close past Earth on Monday, astronomers said on Tuesday.
Solar systems around dead Suns?
Apr 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers have found that at least 1 in 100 white dwarf stars show evidence of orbiting asteroids and rocky planets, suggesting ...
California's Channel Islands hold evidence of Clovis-age comets
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 20, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (14) |
5
A 17-member team has found what may be the smoking gun of a much-debated proposal that a cosmic impact about 12,900 years ago ripped through North America and drove multiple species into extinction.
Spacecraft Could Save Earth from Asteroids
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 04, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (17) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- British space engineers working for a space company in Stevenage in England, have designed a "gravity tractor" spacecraft to deflect any asteroids threatening to collide with Earth. The announcement ...
