The use of a tether assisted system could prevent an asteroid impacting Earth without the risk of fragmentation.
The method suggested by Venditti and her colleagues involves using the tether – previously suggested for other uses, such as space/lunar elevators and tethered satellite system – to connect the threatening PHA to another, smaller, asteroid, thus changing the center of mass of the two and hopefully raising the PHA to a safer orbit.
In case you are keeping track:
Did NASA-ATLAS miss a 89–200 metre wide asteroid passing close to Earth on June 5?
Recently, a massive asteroid passed between the Earth and the moon at a distance of 306,000 km from Earth. However, the astronomers had no idea about it until it actually passed the Earth on June 5. Read on to know more about this massive asteroid that the NASA-ATLAS came to know of two days after it actually passed.
* * *
This asteroid is now claimed to be the largest asteroid to pass near the Earth in as long as nine years. According to Purdue University's researchers and impact predictor, the asteroid would actually have made a nuclear-size explosion had it hit the Earth. NASA-ATLAS system does a good job of detecting the PHAs (potentially hazardous asteroids) and has detected 46 of these as of now.
NASA says an asteroid three times the size of Big Ben will skim past Earth next week - Mirror
The asteroid, dubbed 441987 (2010 NY65), is estimated to measure around 140 m - 310 metres in diameter. At the higher end of that estimate, it indicates the asteroid is over three times the size of London's Big Ben!
The space rock is set to pass us on June 24 at 07:44 BST, at which point it will be 2.3 million mies from Earth.
During the passing, the asteroid will be travelling at staggering speeds of up to 12.89 kilometres/second. That's around 14 times faster than a bullet!
NASA's OSIRIS-REx Produces Detailed Mosaic of Nightingale Landing Site on Asteroid Bennu
Sample site Nightingale is located in the relatively clear patch just above the crater’s center – visible in the center of the image. The large, dark boulder located at the top right measures 43 feet (13 meters) on its longest axis. The mosaic is rotated so that Bennu’s east is at the top of the image.
Nightingale is the primary sample collection site for the OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to make its first sample collection attempt at site Nightingale on October 20, 2020.
And here's another article:
ATLAS telescope discovers first-of-its-kind asteroid -- ScienceDaily
We often think of asteroids and comets as distinct types of small bodies, but astronomers have discovered an increasing number of "crossovers." These objects initially appear to be asteroids, and later develop activity, such as tails, that are typical of comets.
Now, the University of Hawai'i Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) has discovered the first known Jupiter Trojan asteroid to have sprouted a comet-like tail. ATLAS is a NASA-funded project using wide-field telescopes to rapidly scan the sky for asteroids that might pose an impact threat to Earth. But by searching most of the sky every two nights, ATLAS often finds other kinds of objects -- objects that aren't dangerous, but are very interesting.
Collision may explain asteroid Bennu's 'spinning top' shape - Futurity
Researchers with NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, are gaining a new understanding of asteroid Bennu’s carbon-rich material and signature “spinning-top” shape.
Bennu, the target asteroid for the OSIRIS-REx mission, and Ryugu, the target of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission, are composed of fragments of larger bodies that shattered upon colliding with other objects. The small fragments reaccumulated to form an aggregate body.
This Week in History: June 21-27 - RocketSTEM
JUNE 22, 1978: U.S. Naval Observatory astronomer James Christy discovers Charon, Pluto's first-known moon. Charon, the discovery of which would be confirmed with a series of transit and occultation events between it and Pluto that began in 1995, provided a major step in our understanding of Pluto's size and physical nature. Pluto, its system of moons, and the New Horizons flyby through this system are the topic of a future "Special Topics" presentation.
NASA Discovers an Asteroid Filled With Enough Gold to Make Every Human a Trillionaire
No, you're not dreaming! An asteroid full of gold may have been discovered. We'll fill you in about this unprecedented discovery.
As astonishing as it may seem, NASA may have discovered an asteroid filled with gold. According to International Business Times , NASA discovered this asteroid, called Psyche 16, between Mars and Jupiter.
Reports are that this celestial body is mainly composed of solid metals, such as gold, platinum, nickel, and iron.
No comments:
Post a Comment