While you're here, how about this:
NASA expert identifies mystery object once thought an asteroid - CBS News
The jig may be up for an "asteroid" that's expected to get nabbed by Earth's gravity and become a mini moon next month. Instead of a cosmic rock, the newly discovered object appears to be an old rocket from a failed moon-landing mission 54 years ago that's finally making its way back home, according to NASA's leading asteroid expert. Observations should help nail its identity.
Chodas speculates that asteroid 2020 SO, as it is formally known, is actually the Centaur upper rocket stage that successfully propelled NASA's Surveyor 2 lander to the moon in 1966 before it was discarded. The lander ended up crashing into the moon after one of its thrusters failed to ignite on the way there. The rocket, meanwhile, swept past the moon and into orbit around the sun as intended junk, never to be seen again — until perhaps now.
Study offers more complete view of massive asteroid Psyche
"We've seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel," Becker said. "Earth has a metal core, a mantle and crust. It's possible that as a Psyche protoplanet was forming, it was struck by another object in our solar system and lost its mantle and crust."
Becker observed the asteroid at two specific points in its rotation to view both sides of Psyche completely and delineate as much as possible from observing the surface at ul-traviolet (UV) wavelengths.
Hubble Telescope used to study rare metal asteroid which could have been a protoplanet | Science
The asteroid is one of the largest pieces of space debris floating in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
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An asteroid made of iron and nickel first discovered in 1852 could have been a protoplanet, according to scientists.
The Hubble Space Telescope was used to study the asteroid, named 16 Psyche, during two points in its rotation.
Dr Tracy Becker, a scientist from the Southwest Research Institute, said: "We've seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel."
This may worth something:
NASA: Asteroid Could Still Hit Earth in 2068 - ExtremeTech
Earth has been bombarded by space rocks throughout its history, but we’re lucky no large ones have slammed into the planet lately. Astronomers keep a careful watch on the skies, hoping to spot potential impactors far enough in advance that we can do something about it, and one of the most worrying objects is 99942 Apophis. This skyscraper-sized asteroid might still hit Earth in 2068 , according to a new analysis from the University of Hawaii and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA's Asteroid Mission Packs Away Its Cargo. Next Stop: Earth. - The New York Times
A NASA spacecraft 200 million miles away from Earth has packed up a sample of an asteroid it collected last week.
That chased away concerns that it had traveled for years across the solar system but lost much of the scientific payload it had gone to collect . The mission's managers are now beginning preparations to head back to Earth.
"I am confident, and this team is confident, that we still have hundreds of grams of sample that we plan to bring back to the Earth," Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REX mission, said during a telephone news conference on Thursday.
Asteroid Bennu has been hanging out with Earth for over a million years - CNN
(CNN) The near-Earth asteroid Bennu has been keeping our planet company for a long time. Bennu, new research suggests, has been in an orbit that brings it near to Earth for 1.75 million years.
The strange story of 2020 SO: How an asteroid turned into rocket junk and the NASA scientist who
As soon as he saw the data, Paul Chodas knew something was strange about the near-Earth object that had been designated 2020 SO.
It should have been just another of the tens of thousands of space rocks that astronomers have spotted breezing through our neighborhood in space. This solar system rubble is mostly harmless, but scientists identify and track all they can in case an object appears to be on a collision course with Earth. As head of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Chodas evaluates observations of these objects every day.
Happening on Twitter
Tune in today at 4 pm EDT for an update on where we're at with stowing the sample. It's certainly been an adventure… https://t.co/nSRNYYL3n2 OSIRISREx (from Asteroid Bennu) Thu Oct 29 18:25:18 +0000 2020
In case you missed it, here's footage of NASA's spacecraft touching down on an asteroid and grabbing ancient rock s… https://t.co/GXfOPx1HJH futurism (from Brooklyn, NY) Fri Oct 30 13:25:14 +0000 2020
Asteroids are the storytellers of our solar system's youth. This week, @OSIRISREx collected an asteroid sample & wi… https://t.co/OvI3jPC6F5 NASAAstrobio (from Around the globe...and beyond!) Sat Oct 24 20:01:17 +0000 2020
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