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    Asteroid tagged posts

    Move over Mercury—Chiron is in retrograde: What even is Chiron?

    August 10, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An artist’s impression of Chiron and its coma of gas. William Gonzalez Sierra / UCF

    You might have seen an interesting phrase popping up in your social media feeds lately: “Chiron is in retrograde.” If you’re anything like me, you’ve never heard of Chiron before—and I’m a professional astronomer.

    So what is Chiron, and what does it mean to be in retrograde? The short answer is that Chiron is an asteroid-slash-comet orbiting somewhere past Jupiter and Saturn. And until January 2026, it’s going to look like it’s going backwards in the sky. If you can spot it.

    But there’s a bit more to the story.

    What is Chiron?
    Chiron’s official name is (2060) Chiron. First things first: it’s pronounced “kai-ruhn,” with a hard K sound.

    It was discovered by astronomer Charles Kowal in 1977...

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    Nuking a Huge Asteroid could Save Earth, Lab Experiment Suggests

    September 27, 2024, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A big asteroid could threaten life on Earth -- but nuclear bombs could come to the rescue, a new laboratory experiment suggests
    A big asteroid could threaten life on Earth — but nuclear bombs could come to the rescue, a new laboratory experiment suggests.

    The biggest real-life test of our planetary defenses was carried out in 2022, when NASA’s fridge-sized DART spacecraft smashed into a 160-metre (525-feet) wide asteroid, successfully knocking it well off course.

    But for bigger asteroids, merely crashing spaceships into them will probably not do the trick.

    When the roughly 10-kilometer wide Chicxulub asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula around 66 million years ago, it is believed to have plunged Earth into darkness, sent kilometers-high tsunamis rippling around the globe and killed three quarters of all life—including wiping out the dinosaurs.

    We humans are hoping to avoid a similar fate.

    The...

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    Japan space agency finds ample Soil, Gas from Asteroid

    December 15, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This Dec. 14, 2020, photo released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), shows black grains, right, thought to be from Ryugu are inside the sample container of the re-entry capsule of Hayabusa2, in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japan’s space agency said Monday it has confirmed the presence of black soil samples inside a capsule that the spacecraft Hayabusa2 brought back from a distant asteroid last week. (JAXA via AP)

    Officials from Japan’s space agency said Tuesday they have found more than the anticipated amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule the country’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back from a distant asteroid this month, a mission they praised as a milestone for planetary research.

    The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said its staff initially spotted some bla...

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    Touch-and-go: US Spacecraft Sampling Asteroid for return

    October 19, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Touch-and-go: US spacecraft sampling asteroid for return
    This undated image made available by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. After almost two years circling the ancient asteroid, OSIRIS-REx will attempt to descend to the treacherous, boulder-packed surface and snatch a handful of rubble on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/CSA/York/MDA via AP)

    After almost two years circling an ancient asteroid hundreds of millions of miles away, a NASA spacecraft this week will attempt to descend to the treacherous, boulder-packed surface and snatch a handful of rubble.

    The drama unfolds Tuesday as the U.S. takes its first crack at collecting asteroid samples for return to Earth, a feat accomplished so far only by Japan.

    Brimming with names inspired by Egyptian mythology, the Osiris-Rex mission ...

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