Asteroids as a research area encompasses the scientific investigation of small rocky bodies primarily located in the asteroid belt and throughout the Solar System, focusing on their composition, internal structure, dynamical evolution, and role in planetary formation and collisional processes. This field integrates observational astronomy, spectroscopy, celestial mechanics, planetary geology, and space mission data to constrain asteroid taxonomies, surface and subsurface properties, impact hazards, and resource potential. Research addresses accretion and differentiation histories, space weathering, binary and rubble-pile formation, migration mechanisms, and their contribution to the delivery of volatiles and organics to terrestrial planets, providing constraints on early Solar System conditions.
A tiny asteroid loitering in a near-Earth orbit for a few months last year may have an intriguing origin on our moon. Its characteristics led scientists to ask: is it a chip off the old lunar block, making a pass by Earth ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 15, 2025
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109
Pocked with craters, the surfaces of many celestial bodies in our solar system provide clear evidence of a 4.6-billion-year battering by meteoroids and other space debris. But on some worlds, including the giant asteroid ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 21, 2024
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129
Although our solar system is billions of years old, we've only recently become better acquainted with one of its more dynamic and captivating inhabitants known as (2060) Chiron.
Astronomy
Dec 18, 2024
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121
On Dec. 12, at 11:15 p.m. EST, NASA's Lucy spacecraft, currently in a two-year orbit around the sun, will skim Earth's atmosphere, passing only about 220 miles (360 kilometers) above the surface. This close flyby will result ...
Space Exploration
Dec 12, 2024
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47
The first dark comet—a celestial object that looks like an asteroid but moves through space like a comet—was reported less than two years ago. Soon after, another six were found. In a new paper, researchers announce the discovery ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 9, 2024
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199
The asteroid that extinguished the dinosaurs is estimated to have been about 10 kilometers across. That's about as wide as Brooklyn. Such a massive impactor is predicted to hit Earth rarely, once every 100 million to 500 ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 9, 2024
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47
Radiation is a primary concern for long-duration human spaceflight, such as the planned trips to Mars, which are the stated goal of organizations such as NASA and SpaceX. Shielding is the standard way to protect astronauts ...
Space Exploration
Dec 5, 2024
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43
Six years ago, NASA's Dawn mission communicated with Earth for the last time, ending its exploration of Ceres and Vesta, the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt. Since then, Ceres —a water-rich dwarf planet showing signs ...
Astrobiology
Dec 4, 2024
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904
Popular media love talking about asteroid mining using big numbers. Many articles talk about a mission to Psyche, the largest metallic asteroid in the asteroid belt, as visiting a body worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000, presumably ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 29, 2024
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105
Asteroids are remnants of the formation of our solar system, and while many can be found within the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, some cannot. One such object is asteroid (162173) Ryugu, a 1 km-wide ...
