NASA said on its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) website: “NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood.
“The scientific interest in comets and asteroids is due largely to their status as the relatively unchanged remnant debris from the solar system formation process some 4.6 billion years ago.
“The giant outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) formed from an agglomeration of billions of comets and the left over bits and pieces from this formation process are the comets we see today.
Many things are taking place:
An Agency for asteroids
This year's Asteroid Day is expanding. The annual commemoration of the largest asteroid impact in recorded history on 30 June is being preceded by plentiful digital video content, including programming by ESA, highlighting our work studying, surveying and safeguarding against asteroids.
Asteroids have influenced Earth's development, as seen by the millions of impact craters scarring our world. They are also a promising source of future resources and – last but not least – they pose a proven threat to Earth and human civilisation.
ESA highlights protection for our planet ahead of Asteroid Day
"Even when the threat is low, governments and international organisations such as the UN working together show that it is possible to get ready in advance and mitigate damage from a global threat that can affect anyone, anywhere."
* * *
Under the Agency's Space Safety Programme, which received an important boost in funding at the Space19+ Ministerial Council in November 2019, ESA is taking action as part of an international effort to mitigate asteroid risks.
Not Found - The Arlington Catholic Herald
This may worth something:
Scientists propose tethering asteroids to prevent Earth impacts | Engadget
Many proposed anti-asteroid solutions involve knocking them off-course , which carries its own problems — what if you create a fragment that hits Earth regardless? Researchers might have a safer solution. They’ve proposed a system ( spotted by Parabolic Arc ) that would tether a threatening asteroid to a smaller rock, throwing off the larger body’s center of mass and steering it away from our homeworld.
There are catches. You need a small asteroid in the first place, of course. Moreover, this requires considerably more time to implement than smacking an asteroid with a spacecraft or projectile. It would work well with a coordinated detection and response system , but might take too much time if observers are caught off-guard. It’s another tool in the arsenal, though, and it may be necessary when it’s likely just a matter of when an asteroid enters a collision course, not if.
Vatican astronomer becomes 11th Jesuit to have an asteroid named for him
Jesuit Father Chris Corbally, an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, celebrates Mass for members of the facility's Faith and Astronomy Workshop at the Redemptorist Renewal Center Jan. 13, 2016, in Tucson, Arizona. (Credit: Nancy Wiechec/CNS.)
* * *
Father Chris Corbally, a stellar astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, has had his name attached to a rocky body in the asteroid belt that orbits the sun in slightly less than four years.
“I’m not a kind of an asteroid guy” like some of his colleagues at the observatory, he said. “For me it came a as complete surprise. That’s why it’s kind of nice.”
NASA Tracker: 2 Asteroids To Intersect Earth's Orbit On Thursday
NASA has spotted two small asteroids that are expected to fly past Earth soon. As indicated in the data collected by the agency, the incoming asteroids will intersect Earth's orbit.
The two asteroids are currently being monitored by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). According to CNEOS, the first asteroid that will approach Earth on Thursday (June 25) is called 2017 FW128 .
This asteroid has an estimated diameter of about 62 feet. It is currently traveling across the Solar System towards Earth at an average speed of about 12,000 miles per hour.
Asteroid Bennu mystery: NASA data makes INCREDIBLE space rock discovery | Science | News |
Dr Jamie Molaro of the Planetary Science Institute, lead author of the research paper, said: "This is the first time evidence for this process, called thermal fracturing, has been definitively observed on an object without an atmosphere.
* * *
"It is one piece of a puzzle that tells us what the surface used to be like, and what it will be like millions of years from now."
Rocks expand when sunlight heats them during the day and contract as they cool down at night, causing stress that forms gradually growing cracks.
Happening on Twitter
Nasa names asteroid it will use as target practice to keep planet safe from impact https://t.co/IakCFvNzUO Independent (from London, England) Wed Jun 24 16:43:38 +0000 2020
Asteroid 'size of Eiffel Tower' heading towards Earth's orbit at 29,000mph this week https://t.co/btXDzSKl74 https://t.co/tSYbUP3Db2 dailystar (from London) Sun Jun 21 17:19:00 +0000 2020
Asteroid Day has issued the press release for the 2020 Asteroid Day LIVE as we gear up for 30 June! The official pr… https://t.co/5qUARJEKpx AsteroidDay (from Observed across 193 countries) Mon Jun 22 11:15:03 +0000 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment