Shibu Tripathi | New Delhi Last Updated at January 11, 2021 11:43 IST
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As astronomers, the world over, continue looking for answers to the origin of the universe, one major curiosity is how water was formed or brought on Earth. The Hyabusa-2 spacecraft that recently returned with rock, soil samples from what is believed to be a part of water-bearing asteroid Ryugu is piquing interest globally even as the analysis of its capsule continues.
Many things are taking place:
Space news: Asteroid rim could support trillions says Christopher Wanjek | Science | News |
The claim was made by Christopher Wanjek, a science writer who authored ‘Spacefarers: How Humans Will Settle the Moon, Mars, and Beyond’. According to the most recent United Nations estimate the current human population is around 7.8 billion.
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However some scientists believe humanity will end up colonising space beyond Earth, potentially allowing a huge population growth.
NASA has plans to return a human to the Moon by 2024 and then set up a permanent base on the lunar surface.
The economics of protecting the planet from an asteroid disaster : Planet Money : NPR
As we were looking back over the year we realized one thing hadn't happened. We haven't been hit by an asteroid. Yet. But we do have a show on the topic in the archives, and, given the year, we thought it might be a good idea to roll it back out. You know, just in case. There are still a couple of days left.
Meteoric evidence for a previously unknown asteroid: Mineralogy points to large, water-rich
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.
"Carbonaceous chondrite (CC) meteorites record the geological activity during the earliest stages of the Solar System and provide insight into their parent bodies' histories," said SwRI Staff Scientist Dr. Vicky Hamilton, first author of a paper published in Nature Astronomy outlining this research. "Some of these meteorites are dominated by minerals providing evidence for exposure to water at low temperatures and pressures.
Other things to check out:
Biggest asteroid to pass Earth in 2021 also one of the fastest | Astronomy Essentials | EarthSky
On March 21, when asteroid 2001 FO32 sweeps past Earth, it’ll be moving at such a fast pace that observers using telescopes might be able to detect its motion – its drift in front of the stars – in real time.
This is a simulated view of asteroid 2001 FO32 on approach to Earth’s vicinity on January 6, 2021. The lines are orbits of planets in our solar system; see Earth’s orbit (3rd planet from the sun)? The asteroid is still far away, but it’ll be closest on March 21, the day after the March equinox, sweeping within about 5 lunar distances, moving at about 21 miles (34.4 km) per second. See orbit simulation. Image via SpaceReference.org .
Defending Earth against dangerous asteroids: Q&A with NASA's Lindley Johnson | Space
The largest hit in recent times was the object that exploded over Tunguska, Siberia, in June 1908 with an energy impact of five to 15 megatons. Then there was that spectacular and destructive airburst in February 2013 over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The Chelyabinsk explosion generated a shock wave that shattered windows on the ground, and the resulting flying glass shards injured more than 1,000 people.
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Thwarting an incoming object that has Earth in its crosshairs will mean deflecting or disrupting the hazardous object. That's a task of planetary defense, an "applied planetary science" to address the near-Earth object (NEO) impact hazard.
Giant Asteroid Almost Twice Size of Empire State Building to Fly Past Earth
The space rock, known as 2015 NU13, is estimated to measure between 1,017 and 2,230 feet in diameter, data from NASA 's Center for Near Earth Studies (CNEOS) shows.
At the upper end of this estimate, the asteroid would be almost twice as big as the Empire State Building in New York City.
It would also stand slightly short of the world's tallest building—the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is about 2,723 feet.
2015 NU13 is set to make its closest approach to Earth at 4:16 a.m. ET on January 9, when it will come within 3.5 million miles of Earth.
Asteroid explorer collects first samples thought to be rich in organic compounds; a Purdue
Note to journalists : Photographs of Michelle Thompson with previous asteroid samples are available via a Google Drive folder . Journalists visiting campus should follow visitor health guidelines .
Thompson holds a sample of a carbonaceous meteorite which may have similarities to material returned by the Hayabusa2 mission. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A fireball lit up the Australian sky in the first week of December, as Japan’s Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer sent a capsule containing pieces of nearby asteroid Ryugu down to the Earth’s surface.
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