News tagged with asteroid collision

Tiny 'spherules' reveal details about Earth's asteroid impacts

(Phys.org) -- Researchers are learning details about asteroid impacts going back to the Earth's early history by using a new method for extracting precise information from tiny "spherules" embedded in layers ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Asteroid sites hint at life on Mars

(Phys.org) -- Craters made by asteroid impacts may be the best place to look for signs of life on other planets, a study suggests.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 2

Space mountain produces terrestrial meteorites

When NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around giant asteroid Vesta in July, scientists fully expected the probe to reveal some surprising sights. But no one expected a 13-mile high mountain, two and a half ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 02, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Meteorites from 2008 TC3 still giving up their secrets

It was an unprecedented event: On October 6, 2008, asteroid 2008 TC3 was spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey Telescope in Arizona. Plotting its trajectory, astronomers knew the 80-ton rock was heading for a ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Planets smashed into dust near supermassive black holes

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fat doughnut-shaped dust shrouds that obscure about half of supermassive black holes could be the result of high speed crashes between planets and asteroids, according to a new theory from ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 28, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Almahata Sitta meteorites could come from triple asteroid mash-up

(PhysOrg.com) -- Analysis of fragments of the Almahata Sitta meteorite, which landed in Sudan in 2008, has shown that the parent asteroid was probably formed through collisions of three different types of ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Impact mitigation

The save-the-Earth rehearsal mission Don Quijote, commissioned by the European Space Agency, is planned to test the potential of a real life-or-death mission to deflect a mass-extinction-inducing asteroid from a colli ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Aug 15, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 14

Swift and Hubble probe an asteroid crash (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Late last year, astronomers noticed an asteroid named Scheila had unexpectedly brightened, and it was sporting short-lived plumes. Data from NASA's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

When is a comet not a comet? Rosetta finds out

(PhysOrg.com) -- It was a case of celestial hit and run. Two asteroids, both in the wrong place at the wrong time. The result: one big trail of debris and a case of mistaken identity. Now, however, ESA’s ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 14, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Bizarre X-shaped intruder linked to an unseen asteroid collision (w/ Video)

Last January astronomers thought they had witnessed a fresh collision between two asteroids when images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope revealed a bizarre X-shaped object at the head of a comet-like ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 13, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Russia in secret plan to save Earth from asteroid: official

Russian scientists will soon meet in secret to work on a plan for saving Earth from a possible catastrophic collision with a giant asteroid in 26 years, the head of Russia's space agency said Wednesday.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 30, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (33) | comments 85

Spacecraft Could Save Earth from Asteroids

(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 ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 04, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (17) | comments 38 weblog

Powerful New Technique to Measure Asteroids' Sizes and Shapes

A team of French and Italian astronomers have devised a new method for measuring the size and shape of asteroids that are too small or too far away for traditional techniques, increasing the number of asteroids ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 04, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 3