Three asteroids , including one that's larger than the Washington Monument, are set to safely fly past Earth on Christmas Day, according to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
The largest space rock, known as asteroid 501647 (2014 SD224), is slated to come within 1.9 million miles of Earth and is thought to have a diameter as great as 689 feet. At its size and distance, it is considered a "potentially hazardous" Near-Earth Object (NEO), but it poses no threat to the planet when it zips past later this week.
While you're here, how about this:
Scientists discover evidence of a potentially new asteroid
A false-colour micrograph of the meteorite sample. Image: © NASA/USRA/Lunar and Planetary Institute
A team of researchers studying a small meteorite shard said it is likely to have come from a previously unknown parent asteroid.
While hundreds of thousands of asteroids have been discovered by researchers, scientists and amateur observers all over the world, it only a fraction of what is likely to exist in space. The more asteroids that are discovered, the more they can be studied and analysed.
Subaru Telescope Captures Images of Near-Earth Asteroid 1998 KY26 | Astronomy | Sci-News.com
Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope have produced spectacular images of 1998 KY26, a future asteroid target of JAXA's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft.
This image, taken with the Hyper Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope, shows the near-Earth asteroid 1998 KY26. Image credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
1998 KY26 is a nearly spherical and potentially metallic asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group.
Why we're never going to mine the asteroid belt
From Ellen Ripley in Alien and Dave Lister in Red Dwarf , to Sam Bell in Moon and The Expanse 's Naomi Nagata, the grittier end of interstellar drama would be bereft if it weren't for overalled engineers and their mineral-processing operations.
It's such an alluring vision that real money has been put toward its realization. Alphabet Inc.'s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron (director of the Alien sequel Aliens ) all invested in Planetary Resources Inc., which raised venture finance with its mission of mining high-value minerals from asteroids and refining them into metal foams that could be shot back down to Earth. Deep Space Industries Inc.
And here's another article:
SwRI-led team finds meteoric evidence for a previously unknown asteroid | EurekAlert! Science News
IMAGE: SwRI scientists studied the composition of a small shard of a meteoroid to determine that it likely originated from a previously unknown parent asteroid. This false-color micrograph of the meteoroid... view more
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SAN ANTONIO -- Dec. 21, 2020 -- A Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists has identified a potentially new meteorite parent asteroid by studying a small shard of a meteorite that arrived on Earth a dozen years ago. The composition of a piece of the meteorite Almahata Sitta (AhS) indicates that its parent body was an asteroid roughly the size of Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt, and formed in the presence of water under intermediate temperatures and pressures.
Two Indian Students Discover Six Preliminary Asteroids in Worldwide Search Campaign
Two students from Pune in the Indian state of Maharashtra have recently managed to discover six preliminary asteroids as part of the Kalam Centre Asteroid Search Campaign organised by Kalam Centre and the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC). The two students were trained to search asteroids in the Main Belt Asteroid through advanced data analysis and specially designed software.
In a statement issued on December 19, the Vikhe Patil School said 13-year-olds Arya Pulate and Shreya Waghmare discovered the asteroids, adding that all 22 participants in the campaign had to undergo a rigorous screening process through a worldwide event organised between November 9 and December 3.
Japan space agency reveals what's inside capsule brought back from asteroid -
A large number of particles are confirmed to be in “sample chamber A” inside the collected capsule (~11:10 JST on 12/15). This is thought to be the sample from the first touchdown on Ryugu. The photo looks brown, but our team says “black”! The sample return is a great success! pic.twitter.com/34vIx17zOX
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The samples were gathered from touchdowns that Hayabusa2 made last year on Ryugu, more than 190 million miles from Earth. The landings were more difficult than expected because of the asteroid's extremely rocky surface.
Japan's Hayabusa2 brings back dust and rock samples from asteroid - RocketSTEM
J apanese space scientists are positively gleeful as they have now confirmed that their ambitious Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully collected over 5 grams of pristine black as coal soil and rock samples gathered from the ancient near-earth asteroid Ryugu in a re-entry capsule that parachuted safely to Earth earlier this month after a six-year roundtrip scientific journey – as confirmed by officials with the mission operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
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