“It tells us this is a moment in geological time. That’s days, weeks, maybe months.”
However, NASA has revealed that a much smaller asteroid has the ability to cause chaos on the planet.
The space agency said a space rock of just a kilometre wide has the potential to case chaos across the planet.
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However, the space agency moved to reassure frightened minds, stating that it is not predicting a major asteroid strike of that size for several centuries.
Not to change the topic here:
Early Asteroid Impacts Could Have Spurred Today's Tectonic Activity
4.6 billion years ago, a swirling cloud of rock and rubble coalesced into the planet we now call home. For millions of years after, our planet was bombarded by rocky bits from the distant reaches of our solar system.
Geologic evidence of tectonic plate activity begins around 3.2 million years ago, coincidentally, during the heavy bombardment—a volatile period in Earth’s history marked by a near constant stream of asteroid impacts.
NASA finally closes in on touchdown spot on messy, rocky asteroid Bennu - CNET
NASA is days away from choosing a sample site for its intrepid spacecraft's sample collection operation, the agency announced on Wednesday. It hasn't been an easy process. In July, NASA narrowed the options down to four sites with bird-themed names: Nightingale, Kingfisher, Osprey and Sandpiper.
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Osiris-Rex has been performing reconnaissance flybys of the sites, snagging high-resolution images and giving its team plenty of food for thought.
Japan’s asteroid probe just fired up its engine for a historic return to Earth – BGR
Japan’s Hayabusa2 asteroid probe has already accomplished a lot. The spacecraft successfully traveled to its target, a space rock known as Ryugu, where it entered orbit and completed some daring sample-gathering maneuvers. Earlier this month , the probe departed from the asteroid and today it begins its journey back to Earth.
As Space.com reports, Hayabusa2 recently fired up its ion propulsion system in a brief test to ensure it’s ready to push the spacecraft back home. The test went smoothly, and today the Japanese space program JAXA will hit the throttle.
Many things are taking place:
Russian space agency Roscosmos eyes lunar observatory to eye asteroids
Never mind the freezing temperatures — real estate on the lunar south pole is a hot commodity, especially when it comes to humans vying for space to build science instruments and, eventually, habitats. It's apparently also a prime location to spy on asteroids.
Just in case we're ever in danger of a Deep Impact moment, Russian space agency Roscosmos is looking at the underside of the Moon for a future base that will use powerful telescopes to keep their proverbial eyes on potentially lethal asteroids and comets. Roscosmos is also planning to add an extra line of defense with satellites that will give those telescopes an assist by tracking destructive objects as (relatively) close as the sun's background and as far out as deep space.
After visit to asteroid, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 heads for home with samples – GeekWire
Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft and its science team bid a bittersweet farewell to the asteroid Ryugu, 180 million miles from Earth, and began the months-long return trip to Earth with a precious set of samples.
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The farewell isn't finished quite yet, however. Over the next few days, Hayabusa 2's camera will capture pictures of the half-mile-wide asteroid as it recedes into the background of space. Then the probe's field of view will turn back toward Earth for the return journey.
Gigantic asteroid twice the size of Big Ben careens past Earth in 'near miss'
The space rock 2019 UN12 was closely tracked by Nasa scientists as it approached our planet at speeds reaching 18 miles per second.
That's more than 30 times faster than a bullet – not bad for an object longer than two football fields combined.
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The space agency kept a close eye on the rock because it was classified as a "near-Earth object" – those that come close enough to be potentially dangerous.
Passing within 900,000 miles of us, UN12's flyby was less than four times the distance from Earth to the Moon.
Asteroid 2017 AP4 will zip past the Earth, at a safe distance, today at 2.24 pm IST- Technology
An asteroid is going to fly past the Earth today at 2.24 pm IST, but simmer down for a beat, because it won't be knocking anyone dead. This space rock will fly past us as it follows an Earth-crossing orbit, which means it has a chance of colliding with the planet.
The asteroid, called 2017 AP4, is an example of what space scientists call "Near-Earth Asteroids" or "Near-Earth Objects" (NEOs). These are asteroids and comets that occasionally cut into Earth's orbit of the Sun as they cruise through the inner rings of the solar system.
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