Asteroid tagged posts

Small near-Earth asteroids are important targets of study because not much is known about them. By characterizing the smallest of the bunch, scientists can better understand the population of objects from which they originate: large asteroids, which have a much smaller likelihood of impacting Earth. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Astronomers have obtained observations of the smallest asteroid ever characterized in detail. At 6 feet in diameter, the tiny space rock is small enough to be straddled by a person in a hypothetical space-themed sequel to the iconic bomb-riding scene in the movie “Dr. Strangelove.” Interestingly, the asteroid, named 2015 TC25, is also one of the brightest near-Earth asteroids ever discovered...

Images of Ceres made using combined Dawn and 2005 HST ultraviolet-visible wavelength images. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Philip Stooke/Ian Regan

Hubble observations of the dwarf planet Ceres have discovered the first evidence of sulfur, sulfur dioxide and graphitized carbon found on an asteroid. The sulfur species are likely associated with regions of recent activity, reports Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Amanda Hendrix. The discoveries were made by comparing Ceres’ UV-visible spectra to laboratory measurements. The new HST observations are complementary to observations being made by instrument on the Dawn spacecraft in orbit at Ceres, covering additional wavelengths.

The presence of graphitized carbon is consistent with weathering of carbonaceous material on t...

Grooves and gashes associated with the Imbrium Basin on the moon have long been puzzling. New research shows how some of these features were formed and uses them to estimate the size of the Imbrium impactor. The study suggests it was big enough to be considered a protoplanet. Credit: NASA/Northeast Planetary Data Center/Brown University

The asteroid that slammed into the moon 3.8 billion years ago creating the Imbrium Basin may have had a diameter of at least 150 miles, according to a new estimate. The work helps explain puzzling geological features on the moon’s near side, and has implications for understanding the evolution of the early solar system. This new size estimate suggests the impactor was 2X larger in diameter and 10X more massive than previous estimates.

Previous estimates, Sc...

Craters on the surface of the asteroid 21 Lutetia. Credit: ESA

An international study reveals that asteroids have endured a multitude of impact strikes since their formation 4,565 million years ago. Scientists have reconstructed a timeline of these collisions using a physics-based model which reproduces the process through time, comparing its results with present-day information about chondrite meteorites.

The size distribution of the objects which make up the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter indicates that these asteroids have been struck by projectiles >20cm in size at least 100 million times. The resultant craters from these strikes are proportional to both the diameters and the velocities of these projectiles.

The information compiled on ordinary chondrites indicates that these m...