Researchers using China's new Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the largest single-dish scope in the world, are piecing together a technological strategy to carry out a major and sweeping search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
What if China someday announces that this hunt has been successful? How would such a claim be verified, and what might the consequences be? And could an unofficial international SETI race already be underway?
A brief fireball blazed over China in October of 2019, and a piece of it may have fallen to the ground.
Astronomer and astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasinghe has proposed the theory that such visitors from outer space may carry viruses, implying that Covid-19’s origin might be extraterrestrial.
* * *
That’s according to an article written by Seth Shostak, director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, or SETI.
Opinion | The End of the New World Order - The New York Times
It's a mistake to believe most conspiracy theories, but it's also a mistake to assume that they bear no relation to reality. Some are just insane emanations or deliberate misinformation. But others exaggerate and misread important trends rather than denying them, or offer implausible explanations for mysteries that nonetheless linger unexplained.
Sometimes, though, conspiracy theories outlive the reality that once sustained them, surging in popularity just as the real world is making their anxieties irrelevant. And something like that may be happening right now with conspiratorial thinking about the so-called New World Order. On the one hand, the coronavirus is inspiring a surge of N.W.O. paranoia, a renewed fear of elite cabals that aspire to rule the world.
What might Edmund Burke have thought about pandemics and other civilizational threats?
It's one of the more famous Burke quotes, but not one I expected to find in the fascinating " The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity " by Oxford philosopher Toby Ord. Having read many books of broadly this sort, most if not all written by thinkers of the left, conservative philosophers are a rare find within them. But Burke's inclusion makes total sense given his emphasis on intergenerational responsibility.
And let me emphasize that latter point, as Ord does in the book. Survival is not enough. A societal collapse that permanently wrecks the potential of our species, a failed world scenario, is no better outcome. Good to avoid those as well.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Talks over a 9-billion euro German government bailout of Lufthansa have hit a snag and will continue over the weekend, a German newspaper reported on Friday.
The issue involves a demand from the government that Lufthansa accept delivery of all planes it has ordered from Airbus , putting a significant financial burden on the troubled airline group, Handelsblatt reported, citing unnamed sources.
The planes would cost the ailing carrier more than 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in the coming three to four years, which Handelsblatt said would make the airline's recovery practically impossible.
How the CIA Tried to Quell UFO Panic During the Cold War - HISTORY
In January 1953, the fledgling Central Intelligence Agency had a thorny situation on its hands. Reports of UFO sightings were mushrooming around the country. Press accounts were fanning public fascination—and concern. So the CIA convened a group of scientists to investigate whether these unknown phenomena in the sky represented a national security threat.
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To this end, the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence collaborated with Howard Percy Robertson, a professor of mathematical physics at the California Institute of Technology, to gather a panel of nonmilitary scientists. The Robertson panel met for a few days in January 1953 to review Air Force records about UFO sightings going back to 1947.
Joseph Gradisher, spokesperson for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, confirmed the videos' content to USA TODAY Friday morning. Gradisher referred to the objects depicted in the videos as "unidentified aerial phenomena" or UAPs.
The Navy's definition of UAPs includes unidentified objects that are likely easily explained – such as drones – as well as more mysterious phenomena that have stumped many observers and experts.
Amy Klobuchar says in interview she will declassify UFO documents if elected president | FOX 10
Minnesota senator and presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar revealed this week that she would be open to declassifying government documents regarding UFOs if elected president.
MOUNT WASHINGTON VALLEY, N.H. - Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for president in 2020, said in an interview on Monday that she would declassify UFO documents if she is elected president.
Klobuchar confirmed the promise to look into documents regarding unidentified flying objects in an interview with the Conway Daily Sun in Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire.
Lufthansa is closing in on a $10 billion state bailout that will see Germany take a 20% stake in its flagship carri… https://t.co/DCQbdq24tXReuters (from Around the world)Thu May 21 11:20:00 +0000 2020
Lufthansa is closing in on a $10 billion bailout from the government that will give Germany a 20% stake in its flag… https://t.co/POzN4O9xXXReutersBiz (from Around the world)Thu May 21 11:30:00 +0000 2020
Update: Lufthansa is closing in on a state rescue worth €9 billion — as part of the bailout, the German government… https://t.co/Zm5fQki2CrAlexInAir (from Usually at 38,000ft / London)Thu May 21 10:29:35 +0000 2020
Lufthansa management says the need for a multibillion-euro coronavirus bailout is becoming "urgent" https://t.co/DrlFfvLQmvbusiness (from New York and the World)Wed May 20 08:31:03 +0000 2020
Bengaluru: A super-sonic sound rattled denizens of Bengaluru, sparking wild rumours of an earthquake, an explosion or a fighter jet cruising at high speed or even an alien invasion, which later confirmed to be a test flight of the Indian Air Force.
The sound was heard across the city from Kempegowda International Airport off Devanahalli in the north to Kengeri and Electronic City in the South at around 1:30pm on Wednesday.
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Soon, the hashtag 'Bangalore' and 'sonicboom' started trending on Twitter with many likening the noise to that of an alien UFO, a Mirage 2000 aircraft, a dynamite blast among many wilder theories.
The Dark Connection Between UFOs and Grisly Mutilations - HISTORY
The details are both grisly and strangely surgical: corpses found under the open sky with their eyes plucked out, tongues removed and private parts excised—all extracted with the utmost precision and leaving not a drop of blood.
Reports of such unexplained mutilations, carried out on both humans and animals, have baffled investigators for decades, leading to speculation about whether the perpetrators might be otherworldly beings conducting biological experiments on earth’s inhabitants. While scores of reports have emerged from U.S. western and midwestern states detailing mysterious bloodless animal mutilations, human cases have been far less common—and often much sketchier in their documentation.
Ahead of Area 51 raid, MI UFO enthusiasts say aliens are real
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- It's a question you've been asked before, and lately in the United States it's on everyone's mind: "Do you believe in aliens?"
FOX 17 went to downtown Grand Rapids and asked random people what they think. The biggest response?
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Southeast Michigan native Harry Willnus says that now-a-days he thinks, "That more than 50% of the U.S. population anyway does believe that there is something going on with this UFO stuff."
New podcast revisits Exeter’s UFO past - News - fosters.com - Dover, NH
Hosted by Durham resident Toby Ball, the podcast begins on a September night in 1961 when the Hills encountered something they could not explain. It goes on to explore the psychology of skepticism and belief using the Hills’ experience as a case study.
Ball is a panelist on the true crime review podcast "Crime Writers On," and author of "The City Trilogy," a noir crime series. The concept of why some people are such strong believers in UFOs and aliens, while others remain steadfast skeptics, intrigued him.
UFOs: Why the government will not be disclosing secret information about alien visits -
Is someone going to prove Fox Mulder right? Will somebody convincingly show that aliens have come to Earth?
That's the growing expectation of many members of the UFO community. For seventy years, they've been confidently insisting that some fraction of the strange objects seen flitting through the atmosphere are extraterrestrial craft, piloted by otherworldly beings on a junket to our planet. But while 100 million Americans give this claim a thumbs up – confident that our skies are peppered with interstellar intruders – few scientists agree.
6 Top Secret Spy Planes Developed at Area 51 - HISTORY
In 1955, the Central Intelligence Agency , U.S. Air Force and defense contractor Lockheed Martin chose an ultra-remote site in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada, about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to begin testing and developing the newest, most advanced aircraft in the world at the time.
For decades, the Nevada Test and Training Range, better known as Area 51 , didn’t appear on any public map, and the U.S. government didn’t even admit it existed. Thanks to the ironclad security surrounding the site, and the experimental nature of the “black aircraft” tested there, rumors of unidentified flying objects, captive aliens and other mysterious activities have swirled around Area 51 ever since the ‘50s.
After thousands reported seeing glowing lights in the sky, videos and posts began disappearing from social media, s… https://t.co/Ts7I9dR4a5Dazed (from London)Sat May 23 00:00:10 +0000 2020
The mysterious lights were seen by thousands of people, there's video evidence, and people are saying posts disappe… https://t.co/77HHkz2rUHVICE Fri May 15 14:00:25 +0000 2020
There was a UFO Crash in Brazil. Now im thinking corona was an alien virus that the government is trying to hide f… https://t.co/KCjOqgowa2woolimusic (from IG/Snap: Woolimusic)Sat May 16 21:40:49 +0000 2020
Kennedy Space Center, known as the "epicenter of human space flight," is looking to the future, with the aim of becoming a one-stop shop for launching into space.
To achieve that goal, the center is focused on one question: What do commercial space companies really need?
The answer, at least for now, is a multi-user spaceport where companies like Boeing, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and others work alongside the government to develop spaceflight capabilities and launch from here or nearby Cape Canaveral.
Is going to space truly essential during a pandemic? | Engadget
Much about the world after the coronavirus pandemic remains uncertain, but one priority of the Trump administration remains steadfast: Damn it, we’re going to the moon.
Moon-mining machinations are perhaps the most grandiose example of space work continuing through the pandemic, but they’re far from the only ones. Few might immediately think of astronauts as essential workers or rocket launches as mandatory for the nation’s survival. But based on the permitted activities of both NASA and private companies, space has managed to encounter relatively few interruptions or delays compared to more present-tense industries.
Publisher: Engadget
Author: https www engadget com editors ingrid burrington
A disturbing space flight amid the pandemic : The Tribune India
A + Comment A disturbing space flight amid the pandemic Apart from the bizarreness of the timing and the context, the announcement is deeply disturbing for independent functioning of India's premier space agency — the Indian Space Research Organisation. The substance of the announcement is questionable, in any case. The announcement is indicative of a total erosion of the independence and autonomy of a scientific agency.
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Strange: Inter-planetary travel has been opened to the private sector as part of the stimulus package.
Space travel training of four Indian astronauts resumes in Russia- Sentinelassam
Chennai : Space travel training for four Indian astronauts has resumed at Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Russia, Glavkosmos said on Thursday. This week, the GCTC specialists are giving theoretical classes on the basics of astrogation, the basics of manned spacecraft control and the Russian language to the Indian cosmonauts.
Glavkosmos, a joint stock company, is part of the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos). According to Glavkosmos, training for the four Indian astronauts resumed on May 12 and they are in good health and feel fine. Their health is carefully protected. Glavkosmos said: "GCTC continues to observe anti-epidemic regulations.
Love isolation? NASA wants you to spend 8 months locked in a Russian lab | Space
Do you thrive in social isolation? NASA is looking for people to spend 8 months locked in a Russian lab for a new experiment.
When humans return to the moon and travel to Mars , they will need to be prepared for long-duration space travel and even longer stays on these far-off destinations. Currently, NASA's Artemis program aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission landed in 1972.
While the moon is the main goal of NASA's Artemis program, the agency's larger goal is to send crewed missions to Mars. But long-term space travel and habitation won't be easy. Such missions will present both physical and mental challenges as astronauts work to not only survive, but perform important scientific research in uniquely difficult environments.
Trends and predictions for the global space industry
The global space industry is at a pivotal point. In the coming years, the industry is set to advance and open up, which will trigger growth – by 2030, the global space industry will be worth around $600 billion. This will generate opportunity for national governments and private sectors players, with companies from several industries looking at space to improve and transform their own businesses.
* * *
In a world where leisurely travel to the Moon is viable, expect open discussion of the prospect of people permanently residing on its barren terrain. While it will be a possibility by the end of the decade, the financial, logistical, physical, and psychological implications will mean it’s still a hard task for humans to conquer.
2 astronauts travel from Houston to Florida before historic manned U.S.
HOUSTON – Two astronauts will travel from Houston to Florida on Wednesday, a week before they will participate in the first manned launch from U.S. soil in nearly a decade.
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will depart Ellington Field aboard a Gulfstream aircraft to travel to Kennedy Space Center. The pair will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. central time on the runway when they arrive.
"It's an incredible time for NASA, the space program once again launching U.S. crews from Florida," said Hurley.
Space travel breakthrough: Ultra-thin solar sails could slash times to neighbour stars | Science
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), solar sails are some of the most promising space propulsion technologies.
Solar sails could potentially enable scientists to reach other star systems within a matter of decades.
And though the technology will not take humans beyond the solar system just yet, it could be used to send probes to places like Alpha Centauri 4.37 light-years away.
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SCALE Nanotech, a research start-up operating in Estonia and Germany, is now developing solar sails out of one carbon-atom thick graphene.
That's right, #YangGang, today @AndrewYang endorsed @MikeForKY in the race to be the next US Senator of Kentucky! T… https://t.co/CwzcTfQYCzscottsantens (from New Orleans, LA)Fri May 22 14:02:03 +0000 2020
The truth that Democrats don't want you to know, is that yes we CAN do both. We can help out American families & bu… https://t.co/zbcWMuBG1wSenRickScott (from The Sunshine State)Fri May 22 01:30:21 +0000 2020
We know there's a lot of anxiety around the future right now. Our advice? Break down time in manageable bits: what… https://t.co/eziFwShbWhCrisisTextLine (from Throughout the US)Fri May 22 16:37:41 +0000 2020
Over 290k BCers have completed @CDCofBC's Your story, our future survey. Your input helps us guide the next stage… https://t.co/y6AiOx4HyOadriandix (from Vancouver BC)Fri May 22 01:55:00 +0000 2020
Every 26 months or so, when the planets are favorably aligned, spacecraft can be sent to Mars at a discount—in terms of the rocket fuel required. NASA, which has a lot of experience in this area, rarely misses the chance. U.S. spacecraft have been dispatched to Mars during six of the last eight biennial launch windows.
This summer, two newcomers are ready to hop on the Mars train: China and the United Arab Emirates, the first Arab country to attempt a planetary mission. Meanwhile, NASA will up its game with the first half of a two-part campaign to collect Martian samples and return them to Earth.
NASA's Curiosity rover finds clues to chilly ancient Mars buried in rocks -- ScienceDaily
In a recent Nature Astronomy report on a multi-year experiment conducted in the chemistry lab inside Curiosity's belly, called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), a team of scientists offers some insights to help answer these questions. The team found that certain minerals in rocks at Gale Crater may have formed in an ice-covered lake. These minerals may have formed during a cold stage sandwiched between warmer periods, or after Mars lost most of its atmosphere and began to turn permanently cold.
Testing for Mars...in the High Arctic | Aerospace Testing International
The Haughton-Mars Project is a multi-disciplinary field research program located at the Haughton impact crater site on Canada's northern Devon Island in the High Arctic. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island in the world and the world's leading analog test site for testing the technology that is destined for use on the red planet.
The Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) research station was established on Devon Island in 1997 and is supported mainly by NASA. A range of academic, non-profit, industry and government partners also run research programs at the station. These include the HMP Science Program, which is studying the biology and geology of the site to better understand the nature and evolution of the Moon and Mars in comparison with the Earth.
Earth-based experiments on iron-sulfur alloys thought to comprise the core of Mars reveal details about the planet's seismic properties for the first time.
This information will be compared to observations made by Martian space probes in the near future. Whether the results between experiment and observation coincide or not will either confirm existing theories about Mars' composition or call into question the story of its origin.
Mars is one of our closest terrestrial neighbors, yet it's still very far away -- between about 55 million and 400 million kilometers depending on where Earth and Mars are relative to the sun. At the time of writing, Mars is around 200 million kilometers away, and in any case, it is extremely difficult, expensive and dangerous to get to.
The first footprints on Mars could belong to this geologist
Jessica Watkins spent her PhD studying landslides on Mars. Now she is among the few humans with a shot at being the first to walk on the red planet.
In January, Watkins graduated as a member of NASA's newest astronaut class. As a planetary geologist, she is a leading candidate to participate in the agency's Artemis programme, which aims to send people back to the Moon by the end of 2024. Further down the line — Watkins is only 32 years old — there might even be a trip to Mars.
Colonizing Mars may require humanity to tweak its DNA | Space
Crewed missions to Mars, which NASA wants to start flying in the 2030s, will be tough on astronauts , exposing them to high radiation loads, bone-wasting microgravity and other hazards for several years at a time. But these pioneers should still be able to make it back to Earth in relatively good nick, agency officials have said.
* * *
Genetic enhancement may not be restricted to the pages of sci-fi novels for much longer. For example, scientists have already inserted genes from tardigrades — tiny, adorable and famously tough animals that can survive the vacuum of space — into human cells in the laboratory.
Curiosity Finds Evidence of Mars' Ancient Ice-Covered Lakes | Planetary Science, Space
Using data from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on NASA's rover Curiosity, researchers have found that certain minerals in rocks at Gale Crater, the 150-km-wide ancient basin that Curiosity is exploring, may have formed in an ice-covered lake during a cold stage sandwiched between warmer periods, or after Mars lost most of its atmosphere and began to turn permanently cold. Their findings appear in the journal Nature Astronomy .
Gale crater is 155 km in diameter and now holds a layered mountain rising about 5 km above the crater floor. This illustration depicts a lake of water partially filling the crater. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / UA / Sci-News.com.
Before any @ManUtd fans have a go at me, Manchester United have confirmed that the club's net debt has risen to £42… https://t.co/PWq5IoquyfFrankKhalidUK (from London, UK)Thu May 21 13:32:42 +0000 2020
Children's reading list I mentioned on The Five - inspired by Storytime with Dana, put together by @KimStrassel and… https://t.co/1jHzvvdw8fDanaPerino (from New York, NY)Fri May 22 22:10:56 +0000 2020
If you make a wish and watch Meg's Tiny Desk three times, she'll grant you a hot girl summer. https://t.co/V467T7h8RGnprmusic (from NYC & Washington, DC)Fri May 22 22:09:06 +0000 2020
Students can register for up to a maximum of three new eClass Online Learning credit courses this summer.… https://t.co/dPHlaR9cHHTCDSB (from Toronto, Ontario, Canada)Fri May 22 15:01:34 +0000 2020
Geopolymers are regularly used on Earth as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional concrete. One of the main ingredients in concrete is cement, which requires a high-temperature 2 2 manufacturing process that releases a lot of CO 2 . But a geopolymer doesn't require much energy at all. Instead of cement, it uses pulverized rocks or fly ash, the waste product from burning coal.
"Water is very, very valuable on the lunar surface," says Marlies Arnhof, a member of the Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency and a coauthor of the research. "So one of our main goals with this study was to reduce the amount of water necessary to produce a geopolymer."
Crescent Venus, moon, sun | Today's Image | EarthSky
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, wrote: “This is a comparison of crescent images as a montage. Imagery acquired in May 2020 for Venus (in Tucson AZ) upper left, September 2019 for the moon (in Tucson AZ) in the middle, and during the total solar eclipse in July 2019 (in Chile) on the bottom right. Venus was imaged using a 180 mm Skywatcher Mak telescope and the moon a with a Questar Mak telescope. The sun was imaged with 500 mm Nikon lens.
Bottom line: Composite photo of three crescents – Venus, the moon and the sun – at the same phase.
Is your mind playing tricks on you when the moon appears to change sizes? | WKBN.com
Is the moon really bigger when you see it on the horizon compared to when it is high in the sky at night? It does look that way at times. It is actually a trick that your brain is playing on you. It is no bigger when it is on the horizon compared to when it is high in the sky at night.
Big structures can make the moon look bigger. They are close and the moon is far away. This will make the moon look larger. Big machines or city skylines are some examples that may make it look bigger. A mountain range is another.
Of moons and shine and other illuminating topics - Opinion - The Dispatch - Lexington, NC
It was a moonlit night. It almost always is. Except in horror stories, where the moon and stars are nowhere to be seen, and it is pitch dark. In Eastern cultures, a pretty lady’s face is always compared to the moon, with the latter coming off second-best. We have landed several men on the moon. But how much do we really know about moons in general, and ours in particular?
Our moon actually shines. It’s not polite to put “moon” and “shine” next to each other, but why does the moon shine? Well, it doesn’t really shine. Its surface reflects light from the sun: a really “borrowed” shine. And it’s not even very efficient, reflecting only about 3-12% of the sunlight which hits it.
Astronomers May Have Spotted a Tiny Moon in The Outer Solar System
In the far reaches of the Solar System, past the orbit of Neptune, things start getting trickier and trickier to see. Directly imaging small objects out in the darkness of the Kuiper Belt - where Pluto resides - is really difficult, which makes a recent discovery all the more exciting.
If you know where something is, you can observe it by waiting for it to pass in front of distant stars. This is called occultation, and astronomers use it to study all sorts of trans-Neptunian objects.
Here's how we could mine the moon for rocket fuel | MIT Technology Review
The moon is a treasure trove of valuable resources. Gold, platinum, and many rare earth metals await extraction to be used in next-generation electronics. Non-radioactive helium-3 could one day power nuclear fusion reactors. But there's one resource in particular that has excited scientists, rocket engineers, space agency officials, industry entrepreneurs—virtually anyone with a vested interest in making spaceflight to distant worlds more affordable. It's water.
Why? If you split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and then liquefy those constituents, you have rocket fuel . If you can stop at the moon's orbit or a lunar base to refuel, you no longer need to bring all your propellant with you as you take off, making your spacecraft significantly lighter and cheaper to launch. That's important because Earth's atmosphere and gravitational pull necessitate use of tons of fuel per second when rockets launch.
Duncan Jones’ Kickstarter for Graphic Novel That Ends ‘Moon’ Trilogy | IndieWire
The official “Madi” synopsis reads: “Madi Preston, a veteran of Britain’s elite special operations J-Squad unit, is burnt out and up to her eyeballs in debt. She and the rest of her team have retired from the military but are now trapped having to pay to service and maintain the technology put into them during their years of service.
“It’s a bigger film,” Jones said at the time. “It’s going to be a tricky one to finance in this era where original material on a bigger budget is difficult to get made, so I definitely want to do the graphic novel so at least it will exist in some form. Then, hopefully, if people read the graphic novel and get really excited about it, I’m gonna try and use that as a way to leverage getting the movie made.”
"I don't know if making pee would scale well." Thank you for lending your expertise on lunar resources for this v… https://t.co/osmF0kuOanDMOberhaus (from Brooklyn, NY)Fri May 22 11:05:38 +0000 2020
Add astronaut pee to moon dust, mix well. Voila, a recipe for making cement on the lunar surface! https://t.co/QKT5EWYSWWScienceNews (from Washington, DC)Wed May 20 18:15:01 +0000 2020
How well would you sleep in space? 💤 NASA's Human Research Program studies how living on the @Space_Station affects… https://t.co/qJhJRdme6YNASA_Johnson (from Houston, TX)Mon May 18 15:00:33 +0000 2020
Early in June 2019, ATLAS reported what seemed to be a faint asteroid near the orbit of Jupiter. The Minor Planet Center designated the new discovery as 2019 LD2. Inspection of ATLAS images taken on June 10 by collaborators Alan Fitzsimmons and David Young at Queen's University Belfast revealed its probable cometary nature. Follow-up observations by UH astronomer J.D.
Later, in July 2019, new ATLAS images caught 2019 LD2 again—now truly looking like a comet, with a faint tail made of dust or gas. The asteroid passed behind the Sun and was not observable from the Earth in late 2019 and early 2020, but upon its reappearance in the night sky in April of 2020, routine ATLAS observations confirmed that it still looks like a comet. These observations showed that 2019 LD2 has probably been continuously active for almost a year.
NASA's asteroid deflection mission may spark an artificial meteor shower | MNN - Mother
A proof-of-concept demonstration by NASA to determine whether we could save Earth from a doomsday asteroid by literally knocking it off course may end up causing the first human-generated meteor shower.
Called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) , the unprecedented mission will begin with the launch of an 1,100-pound NASA probe aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2021. It will then travel roughly 6.6 million miles for a dramatic rendezvous with a binary asteroid system called Didymos in late September 2022. Instead of targeting Didymos, which measures nearly 2,600 feet across, DART will set its sights instead on a smaller, 500-foot-wide orbiting object nicknamed "Didymoon.
The Tunguska explosion could have been caused by an asteroid that still orbits the sun
Given what we know, the most likely cause is an airburst asteroid strike in which the asteroid explodes in the atmosphere , similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor strike in 2013. Given the size of the impact region, it's estimated that the original asteroid was nearly 70 meters across. This would explain why no large impact crater has been found.
But fragments of the Chelyabinsk were found soon after impact, and one would expect Tunguska fragments to have reached Earth. Despite several searches, nothing has been found. This has led some to explore causes, such as a massive leak of natural gas, or even the explosion of an alien spacecraft. But a new study argues that there are no fragments because the asteroid didn't fragment after all. Instead, it glanced off Earth's atmosphere.
Mile-wide asteroid set to pass within 3.9m miles of Earth | Science | The Guardian
An asteroid more than a mile wide will pass by Earth on Wednesday while travelling at a speed of about 19,000 miles (30,578km) an hour.
The space rock, known as (52768) 1998 OR2, is expected to make its closest approach at 10.56am BST, when it will be just 3.9m miles (6.3m km) away – about 16 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Although the asteroid is classified as a potentially hazardous object (PHO), scientists have said it will not pose a danger to the planet.
NASA says a huge asteroid the size of Big Ben will skim past Earth tomorrow - Mirror Online
It's set to fly past Earth at 20:02 BST tomorrow, at which point it will be around 4.6 million miles from our planet.
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This asteroid isn't the only one set to pass Earth tomorrow. According to NASA, four asteroids will skim past Earth tomorrow, although 2020 JX is the largest.
However, NASA hasn't ruled out the chance of an asteroid colliding with our planet in the near future.
It added: "Over long periods of time, however, the chances of the Earth being impacted are not negligible so that some form of NEO insurance is warranted.
OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Collection Set for Oct. 20 | UANews
After more than a decade of work and much anticipation, the University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission will swipe a sample from the asteroid Bennu's rocky surface on Oct. 20 from the Nightingale sample site.
The mission team successfully completed a first rehearsal last month, and on Tuesday, NASA approved a second rehearsal date of Aug. 11 and the Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sample collection event in October.
The original target date for sample collection was planned for late August, but the new Oct. 20 date will allow the team more time to prepare, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NASA plan to sample asteroid Bennu delayed by coronavirus pandemic | Space
After delays from the coronavirus pandemic , NASA has picked a date for its spacecraft to snatch up a chunk of space rock to bring home.
"The OSIRIS-REx mission has been demonstrating the very essence of exploration by persevering through unexpected challenges," Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, said in a statement . "That spirit has led them to the cusp of the prize we all are waiting for — securing a sample of an asteroid to bring home to Earth, and I'm very excited to follow them through the home stretch."
Trojan asteroids share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, & it's believed they were captured by Jupiter's gravity bill… https://t.co/EpbP2LDa8dAsteroidWatch (from Washington, D.C.)Thu May 21 20:14:26 +0000 2020
#ATLAS telescope discovers first-of-its-kind #asteroid with a comet-like tail https://t.co/rqvNwUMhZtphysorg_com Thu May 21 13:33:43 +0000 2020
Astronomers have spotted a new kind of asteroid. It's a Jupiter Trojan — an asteroid that shares an orbit with Jupi… https://t.co/YzYBmnABpENASASolarSystem (from Milky Way Galaxy)Thu May 21 17:57:08 +0000 2020
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