When NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft collided with an asteroid moon called Dimorphos in 2022, the moon was significantly deformed — creating a large crater and reshaping it so dramatically that the moon derailed from its original evolutionary progression — according to a new study. The study’s researchers believe that Dimorphos may start … Read more
An international team of 45 researchers studying meteor showers has found that not all comets crumble the same way when they approach the Sun. In a paper published in the journal Icarus this week, they ascribe the differences to the conditions in the protoplanetary disk where comets formed 4.5 billion years ago. “The meteoroids we … Read more
Geoscientists from the University of Cologne have led an international study to determine the origin of the huge piece of rock that hit the Earth around 66 million years ago and permanently changed the climate. The scientists analysed samples of the rock layer that marks the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods. This period … Read more
Early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. Dominated by clay minerals, particularly serpentine, the sample mirrors the type of rock found at mid-ocean ridges on Earth. The magnesium-sodium … Read more
Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth’s atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread climatic shift that, among other things, led to the abrupt reversal of the Earth’s warming trend and into an anomalous near-glacial period called the Younger … Read more
When NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew past its first official target Dinkinesh in November 2023, researchers discovered that the asteroid — known as “Dinky” — was not alone in space. A satellite asteroid, which the team named “Selam,” was orbiting Dinky. As Lucy sent more data back to Earth, the researchers discovered something surprising: Selam was … Read more
A paper recently accepted by Icarus presents findings about the Kuiper Belt Object 486958 Arrokoth, shedding new light on the preservation of volatile substances like carbon monoxide (CO) in such distant celestial bodies. Co-authored by Dr. Samuel Birch at Brown University and SETI Institute senior research scientist Dr. Orkan Umurhan, the paper “Retention of CO … Read more
Sound waves thought to be from a 2014 meteor fireball north of Papua New Guinea were almost certainly vibrations from a truck rumbling along a nearby road, new Johns Hopkins University-led research shows. The findings raise doubts that materials pulled last year from the ocean are alien materials from that meteor, as was widely reported. … Read more
Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid that gained significant attention when the Japanese Hayabusa2 mission collected samples and returned them to Earth. These samples have proven to offer a treasure trove of insights into the solar systems, including the possible role of asteroids in delivering organic molecules to earth. Now, a team of scientists have performed … Read more
Analysis of organic compounds — calledpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) — extracted from the Ryugu asteroid and Murchison meteorite has foundthat certainPAHs likely formed in the cold areas of space between stars rather than in hot regions near stars as was previously thought. The findings open new possibilities for studying life beyond Earth and the chemistry … Read more
