Posts Tagged ‘asteroids’
Sensor for asteroid camera passes critical test
U. ROCHESTER (US) — Scientists are testing a new sensor designed to be the eyes of a future asteroid-tracking mission. Continue…
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 11:59 - 3 Comments
Science & Technology - Feb 15, 2013 15:00 - 4 Comments
Defense system uses sun to vaporize asteroids
UC SANTA BARBARA (US) — As an asteroid roughly half as large as a football field readies for a fly-by of Earth on Friday, February 15, two scientists are unveiling a system that could—in one hour—eliminate a threat of this size. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jan 10, 2013 14:29 - 2 Comments
Vega’s asteroid belt hints at hidden planets
U. ARIZONA (US) — The bright star Vega has an asteroid belt, much like our sun, a finding that hints at the possibility of orbiting planets. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 11, 2012 9:57 - 3 Comments
Only lightweight lizards survived killer asteroid
YALE (US) — The asteroid collision widely thought to have killed the dinosaurs also caused extreme devastation among snakes and lizards, including the newly identified Obamadon gracilis. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 2, 2012 12:28 - 0 Comments
Why is asteroid Vesta ‘weathering’ so oddly?
BROWN (US) — The surface of the giant asteroid Vesta is weathering in a way that appears to be completely different from any other asteroid yet visited. (more…)
Top Stories - Oct 16, 2012 6:18 - 0 Comments
Solar winds the likely source of ‘moon water’
U. MICHIGAN / CALTECH (US) — Water trapped in soils on the moon’s surface was likely produced by solar winds, researchers report. (more…)
Top Stories - Sep 25, 2012 12:00 - 43 Comments
Did life crash land on Earth from space?
PRINCETON / U. ARIZONA (US) — Early life forms or the ingredients for life may have traveled to Earth on chunks of rock, scientists say. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jun 29, 2012 11:58 - 0 Comments
Giant crater discovery is Earth’s oldest yet
CARDIFF U. (UK) — A massive asteroid or comet impact caused a 100 kilometer-wide crater in Greenland one billion years before any other known collision on Earth. (more…)
Science & Technology - May 29, 2012 13:22 - 0 Comments
Team measures orbit of NASA’s target asteroid
U. ARIZONA (US) — Scientists have precisely measured the mass and orbit of an asteroid that is the target of a NASA mission scheduled for launch in 2016. (more…)
Science & Technology - Apr 26, 2012 15:44 - 1 Comment
Early on, asteroids gave Earth a beating
PURDUE (US) — Tiny spherules embedded in layers of rock are giving researchers precise information about asteroid impacts going back to Earth’s early history from 3.5 billion to 35 million years ago. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jan 25, 2012 13:43 - 12 Comments
Replica of Trojan asteroids fits in single atom
RICE (US) — Physicists have built an accurate model of part of the solar system inside a single atom of potassium. (more…)
Top Stories - Oct 12, 2011 15:10 - 0 Comments
Worms early to surface after killer asteroid
U. COLORADO-BOULDER (US) — Worms may have been among the first animals to surface after an asteroid plowed into the Gulf of Mexico 65.5 million years ago, an event linked to the demise of big dinosaurs. (more…)
Top Stories - Apr 6, 2011 11:17 - 1 Comment
Why comets aren’t just ‘dirty snowballs’
U. ARIZONA (US) — Evidence of liquid water in a comet blows apart current thinking that comets never get warm enough to melt the ice that makes up the bulk of their material. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 1, 2010 18:01 - 1 Comment
Moving iridium muddies dino debate
RUTGERS (US) — The case of New Jersey’s “missing” iridium—a metal that’s more common in asteroids than on Earth—turns out to be the case of the “moving” iridium. (more…)
Science & Technology - Aug 27, 2010 13:52 - 0 Comments
Baby asteroids make a break for it
U. COLORADO (US)—While the common perception of asteroids is that they are giant rocks lumbering about in orbit, a new study shows they actually are constantly changing “little worlds” that can give birth to smaller asteroids that split off to start their own lives as they circle around the sun. (more…)
Science & Technology - Mar 2, 2010 13:21 - 0 Comments
How nannoplankton hung on by a shoestring
PENN STATE (US)—An asteroid strike may not only account for the demise of ocean and land life 65 million years ago, but the fireball’s path—and resulting dust, darkness, and toxic metal contamination—may explain the geographic unevenness of extinctions and recovery. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jul 31, 2009 15:35 - 0 Comments
Don’t blame comets for Earth’s extinctions
U. WASHINGTON (US)—The huge scar that appeared on Jupiter’s surface on July 19—likely evidence of a comet impact—is a reminder of Earth’s history with comet collisions. While most agree an asteroid strike 65 million years ago did in the dinosaurs, new research indicates it is highly unlikely that comets have been responsible for more than one such extinction event. (more…)
Science & Technology - Jun 2, 2009 15:17 - 3 Comments
Asteroids hammering Earth a boon to early life?
U. COLORADO (US)—The bombardment of Earth nearly 4 billion years ago by asteroids as large as Kansas would not have had the firepower to extinguish potential early life on the planet and may even have given it a boost, says a new University of Colorado at Boulder study. (more…)
