Build a warning system for asteroids
Astronomers are proposing that an early-warning system be built to warn us a week in advance should an asteroid be heading our way.
Tag: asteroids
Why Hayabusa failed to fire its projectile at asteroid
Japanese scientists have determined that a programming error was the reason why Hayabusa failed to fire its projectile at the asteroid Itokawa in 2005.
Brian Marsden, 1937-2010
A ten foot wide asteroid will zip by the Earth tonight
At 10:44 pm (Eastern) tonight a ten foot wide asteroid will zip by the Earth at a distance of only 24,000 miles.
Hayabusa captured asteroid dust
The first asteroid sample return! Japanese scientists announced today that their probe Hayabusa did capture asteroid dust in its visit to the asteroid Itokawa.
An Early Warning System for Asteroid Impact
In a paper posted tonight on the Los Alamos astro-ph website, an astronomer is proposing an early warning system for asteroid impact. Key quote from the abstract:
This system, dubbed “Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System” (ATLAS), comprises two observatories separated by about 100km that simultaneously scan the visible sky twice a night, and can be implemented immediately for relatively low cost. The sensitivity of ATLAS permits detection of 140m asteroids (100 Mton impact energy) three weeks before impact, and 50m asteroids a week before arrival. An ATLAS alarm, augmented by other observations, should result in a determination of impact location and time that is accurate to a few kilometers and a few seconds.
Watching the Deep Impact flyby of Hartley 2
Watch the Deep Impact flyby of Hartley 2 this instant (11:06 AM eastern)! The images are incredible. Update: The fly-by is over, but the live stream is still available (as of 11:30 am Eastern), showing some of the images taken. The comet itself is a peanut-shaped object about two miles long, with a jet of water coming out one end.
Destroy Earth from home
ISS to dodge space junk
Russian mission controllers have shifted the orbit of ISS about a half mile in order to avoid an unidentified piece of space junk.
The Continuing Controversy of the Mars Meteorite
Hubble tracks the aftermath of a possible asteroid collision
Using the Hubble Space Telescope over the last ten months, astronomers have tracked the decaying aftermath of a possible asteroid collision. Key quote:
Astronomers think a smaller rock, perhaps 10 to 15 feet wide, slammed into the larger one. The pair probably collided at high speed, about 11,000 mph, which smashed and vaporized the small asteroid and stripped material from the larger one. Jewitt estimates that the violent encounter happened in February or March 2009 and was as powerful as the detonation of a small atomic bomb.
The image sequence below, taken from the original paper describing the discovery [pdf], shows the slow changes that have occurred since January. At the moment scientists do not have an satisfactory explanation for the nucleus’s X-shaped pattern in the earliest images.
Asteroid to zip past Earth on Tuesday
A 20 foot diameter asteroid is going to zip past the Earth on Tuesday, passing over East Asia only 28,000 miles away.
Hayabusa particles mostly rocky
Japanese scientists have announced that the particles found in the Hayabusa return capsule are mostly made up of rocky materials.
Asteroids of note
At today’s press conference at the 42nd meeting of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences, the topic was asteroids, including one which holds the possibility of hitting the Earth.
- 65 Cybele has been found to have water ice and organic molecules on its surface, the second such asteroid so found. Key quote from the abstract:
We conclude that 65 Cybele is covered by fine anhydrous silicate grains, with a small amount of water-ice and complex organic solids. This is similar to comets where non-equilibrium phases coexist, e.g. water-ice and anhydrous silicates; thus we conclude that this is a very primitive object.
According to Humberto Campins of the University of Central Florida, this combination of water and organics could become hospitable to life should some form of energy be added, such as an impact to the asteroid.
- The origin of the asteroid Phaethon, cause of the Geminids meteor shower, has been traced to the Pallas family of asteroids, a family created by the debris thrown out during a crater impact on the large asteroid Pallas. Campins also noted that this proves Phaethon is an asteroid and not a comet, a question that astronomers had been debating beforehand. Read the abstract here.
- Asteroid 1999 RQ36, which has a 1 in a 1000 chance hitting the Earth in 2182 and is also the prime target of a proposed NASA sample return mission, has now been determined to be a member of the Polana family of asteroids. This makes 1999 RQ36 a very primitive asteroid from the very beginnings of the solar system. Moreover, this suggests that the Polana family could be the “most important” source of many near Earth asteroids. The abstract can be found here.
Hayabusa brought back extraterrestrial matter
Reports today in the Japanese press say that the Hayabusa return capsule did capture minute particles of extraterrestrial material.
WISE telescope moves into final phase of mission
Having run out hydrogen coolant for its infrared cameras and with only a few more months of usable life, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has shifted its work from deep space astronomy to completing its last sweep of the solar system in a search for asteroids and comets.
Update: At a press conference going on right now at the 42nd meeting of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences, WISE scientists note that the mission extension will continue for one month. If that month is successful, the mission will continue until the end of January 2011 in order to complete its solar system sweep. After this the spacecraft will be put in hibernation, available for future work.
Summary of solar system results so far:
- 33,576 asteroids discovered of which 120 were Near Earth Asteroids.
- 19 new comets.
Lutetia covered with deep regolith
Using the data gathered by Rosetta in its fly-by of the asteroid Lutetia in July, scientists have concluded that the 60 mile diameter asteroid is covered with a deep layer of dusty debris, as much as 2000 feet deep.
Images of asteroid by Rosetta
The European Space Agency has released some new data, including images and animations, of the asteroid Lutetia, which the spacecraft Rosetta flew past on July 10, 2010.
Results from Hayabusa delayed till next year
We won’t know if the Japanese probe Hayabusa actually brought asteroid materials back to Earth until spring 2011. Key quote from the project scientist:
Kawaguchi said his science team found “tens of particles” in Chamber A of the canister. The tiny particles are being removed one-by-one in an extraction process that is stretching longer than anticipated.
Note that they still have not opened Chamber B, which is thought to have had a better chance of capturing asteroid material because it was the chamber in contact with the asteroid Itokawa.
Dangerous asteroid discovered by new telescope
A new survey telescope, designed to scan the entire available sky approximately three times every month, has discovered its first potentially hazardous asteroid (PHO) , 150 feet in diameter and set to speed past the Earth at a distance of 4 million miles in mid-October. Key quote:
Most of the largest PHOs have already been catalogued, but scientists suspect that there are many more under a mile across that have not yet been discovered. These could cause devastation on a regional scale if they ever hit our planet. Such impacts are estimated to occur once every few thousand years.