Wow. A low-flying space rock set a record last Friday (appropriately, the 13th), when 2020 VT4 passed just under 400 kilometers (250 miles) over the Southern Pacific.
The asteroid was spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System ( ATLAS ) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 14, just 15 hours after approach. This is not uncommon for fast-movers, especially asteroids that are coming at the Earth from our sunward blind-spot, like 2020 VT4.
And here's another article:
New analysis refutes claim that dinosaurs were in decline before asteroid hit
Dinosaurs were widespread globally at the time of the asteroid impact at the end of the Late Cretaceous period, occupying every continent on the planet and were the dominant form of animal of most terrestrial ecosystems.
However, it is still contentious amongst paleobiologists as to whether dinosaurs were declining in diversity at the time of their extinction.
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In order to address this question, the research team collected a set of different dinosaur family trees and used statistical modelling to assess if each of the main dinosaur groups was still able to produce new species at this time.
Hearts, Airlocks, and Asteroids: New Research on SpaceX-21 Mission | NASA
Dinosaurs would have continued to thrive had it not been for the asteroid, researchers say - CNN
(CNN) Dinosaurs were doing well and could have continued to dominate Planet Earth if they had not been wiped out by an asteroid , new research has found.
Not to change the topic here:
Apophis asteroid might be more likely to strike Earth in 2068 than thought
As news of a possible threat from Apophis arises, others have pointed out that the human race has made strides in protecting the planet from asteroid strikes. NASA's DART mission, for example, scheduled for 2022, will involve sending a spacecraft to an asteroid called Didymos and using it to alter the path of Dimorphos, one of its moons.
To survive asteroid impact, algae learned to hunt -- ScienceDaily
Vast amounts of debris, soot, and aerosols shot into the atmosphere when an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, plunging the planet into darkness, cooling the climate, and acidifying the oceans. Along with the dinosaurs on the land and giant reptiles in the ocean, the dominant species of marine algae were instantly wiped out -- except for one rare type.
A team of scientists, including researchers at UC Riverside, wanted to understand how these algae managed to thrive while the mass extinction rippled throughout the rest of the global food chain.
How NASA Finds the Mass of the Dirt Grabbed From an Asteroid | WIRED
When you think of space missions, you might think of humans walking on the moon or rovers rolling around on Mars. But there's a whole bunch of other awesome space missions too. One of these events was the NASA OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touching an asteroid . It didn't just touch the asteroid named Bennu, it also picked up some material from the surface. It will then return that material to Earth so that humans can study it.
Now for the cool physics. How does OSIRIS-REx determine how much material it collected? After it uses a robotic arm to "poke" the asteroid, it backs up and then spins. Yup. By looking at the change in rotational rate for the spacecraft, you can determine the amount of extra mass in the collector arm. Let me go over all the important pieces to this physics puzzle.
NASA Collects Bits Of An Asteroid To Bring Back To Earth : NPR
This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 images collected on Dec. 2, 2018 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona hide caption
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A NASA spacecraft successfully touched down on a skyscraper-sized asteroid 200 million miles away, in order to collect a small amount of rock and dust that can then be returned to Earth.
The probe, called OSIRIS-REx , is about as big as a 15-passenger van, and it was aiming for a specific spot inside a boulder-strewn crater. The maneuver was tricky and fraught with peril, as the spacecraft had to reach a safe area that's only the size of a few parking spaces.
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