Early in June 2019, ATLAS reported what seemed to be a faint asteroid near the orbit of Jupiter. The Minor Planet Center designated the new discovery as 2019 LD2. Inspection of ATLAS images taken on June 10 by collaborators Alan Fitzsimmons and David Young at Queen's University Belfast revealed its probable cometary nature. Follow-up observations by UH astronomer J.D.
Later, in July 2019, new ATLAS images caught 2019 LD2 again—now truly looking like a comet, with a faint tail made of dust or gas. The asteroid passed behind the Sun and was not observable from the Earth in late 2019 and early 2020, but upon its reappearance in the night sky in April of 2020, routine ATLAS observations confirmed that it still looks like a comet. These observations showed that 2019 LD2 has probably been continuously active for almost a year.
In case you are keeping track:
NASA's asteroid deflection mission may spark an artificial meteor shower | MNN - Mother
A proof-of-concept demonstration by NASA to determine whether we could save Earth from a doomsday asteroid by literally knocking it off course may end up causing the first human-generated meteor shower.
Called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) , the unprecedented mission will begin with the launch of an 1,100-pound NASA probe aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2021. It will then travel roughly 6.6 million miles for a dramatic rendezvous with a binary asteroid system called Didymos in late September 2022. Instead of targeting Didymos, which measures nearly 2,600 feet across, DART will set its sights instead on a smaller, 500-foot-wide orbiting object nicknamed "Didymoon.
The Tunguska explosion could have been caused by an asteroid that still orbits the sun
Given what we know, the most likely cause is an airburst asteroid strike in which the asteroid explodes in the atmosphere , similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor strike in 2013. Given the size of the impact region, it's estimated that the original asteroid was nearly 70 meters across. This would explain why no large impact crater has been found.
But fragments of the Chelyabinsk were found soon after impact, and one would expect Tunguska fragments to have reached Earth. Despite several searches, nothing has been found. This has led some to explore causes, such as a massive leak of natural gas, or even the explosion of an alien spacecraft. But a new study argues that there are no fragments because the asteroid didn't fragment after all. Instead, it glanced off Earth's atmosphere.
Enormous mile-wide asteroid to zip past Earth today, Nasa warns
Travelling at seven miles a second, the asteroid is expected to safely zip past our planet at 9.45pm BST (4.45pm ET), according to Nasa.
Dubbed "1997 BQ", Nasa is keeping a close eye on the object, which the space agency has classified as "potentially hazardous".
It will pass within 3.8million miles of our little blue rock - or roughly 16 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
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Nasa considers anything passing within 120million miles of our planet a "near-Earth object" worthy of round-the-clock observations – just in case.
Not to change the topic here:
Mile-wide asteroid set to pass within 3.9m miles of Earth | Science | The Guardian
An asteroid more than a mile wide will pass by Earth on Wednesday while travelling at a speed of about 19,000 miles (30,578km) an hour.
The space rock, known as (52768) 1998 OR2, is expected to make its closest approach at 10.56am BST, when it will be just 3.9m miles (6.3m km) away – about 16 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Although the asteroid is classified as a potentially hazardous object (PHO), scientists have said it will not pose a danger to the planet.
NASA says a huge asteroid the size of Big Ben will skim past Earth tomorrow - Mirror Online
It's set to fly past Earth at 20:02 BST tomorrow, at which point it will be around 4.6 million miles from our planet.
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This asteroid isn't the only one set to pass Earth tomorrow. According to NASA, four asteroids will skim past Earth tomorrow, although 2020 JX is the largest.
However, NASA hasn't ruled out the chance of an asteroid colliding with our planet in the near future.
It added: "Over long periods of time, however, the chances of the Earth being impacted are not negligible so that some form of NEO insurance is warranted.
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Collection Set for Oct. 20 | UANews
After more than a decade of work and much anticipation, the University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission will swipe a sample from the asteroid Bennu's rocky surface on Oct. 20 from the Nightingale sample site.
The mission team successfully completed a first rehearsal last month, and on Tuesday, NASA approved a second rehearsal date of Aug. 11 and the Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sample collection event in October.
The original target date for sample collection was planned for late August, but the new Oct. 20 date will allow the team more time to prepare, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NASA plan to sample asteroid Bennu delayed by coronavirus pandemic | Space
After delays from the coronavirus pandemic , NASA has picked a date for its spacecraft to snatch up a chunk of space rock to bring home.
"The OSIRIS-REx mission has been demonstrating the very essence of exploration by persevering through unexpected challenges," Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, said in a statement . "That spirit has led them to the cusp of the prize we all are waiting for — securing a sample of an asteroid to bring home to Earth, and I'm very excited to follow them through the home stretch."
Happening on Twitter
Trojan asteroids share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, & it's believed they were captured by Jupiter's gravity bill… https://t.co/EpbP2LDa8d AsteroidWatch (from Washington, D.C.) Thu May 21 20:14:26 +0000 2020
#ATLAS telescope discovers first-of-its-kind #asteroid with a comet-like tail https://t.co/rqvNwUMhZt physorg_com Thu May 21 13:33:43 +0000 2020
Astronomers have spotted a new kind of asteroid. It's a Jupiter Trojan — an asteroid that shares an orbit with Jupi… https://t.co/YzYBmnABpE NASASolarSystem (from Milky Way Galaxy) Thu May 21 17:57:08 +0000 2020
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