With the start of a new year, people are anxious about any new surprises. Luckily the first asteroid flyby of the year is a meager, bus-sized asteroid that poses little to no threat to Earth except for the chance to marvel at these flying rocks as they make their way close to the Sun.
See NASA asteroid-bashing mission's star-studded first images from space - CNET
NASA's DART spacecraft captured this view of space and stars when it uncovered its camera on Dec. 7, 2021.
The images come from the spacecraft's Draco telescopic camera. DART opened the camera cover on Dec. 7 and -- much to the delight of scientists concerned about the camera getting jostled during launch -- the camera worked just fine.
NASA's Psyche Spacecraft to examine Uncharted World in the Asteroid Belt - Clarksville Online
By analyzing light reflected off the asteroid, scientists hypothesize that asteroid Psyche is unusually rich in metal. One possible explanation is that it formed early in our solar system, either as a core of a planetesimal – a piece of a planet – or as primordial material that never melted.
Elkins-Tanton led the group that proposed Psyche as a NASA Discovery-class mission; it was selected in 2017.
Computer simulation models potential asteroid collisions: Results to provide data for NASA's
An asteroid impact can be enough to ruin anyone's day, but several small factors can make the difference between an out-of-this-world story and total annihilation.
The computer simulation initially sought to replicate model asteroid strikes performed in a laboratory.
"From these models, we learn generally a destructive impact process, and its crater formation," said Yang. "And from crater morphologies, we could learn impact environment temperatures and its velocity."
Spacecraft in 2021 set their sights on Mars, asteroids and beyond | Science News
While a flurry of missions crowded around Mars this year, some lesser-explored parts of the solar system are about to get fresh eyes.
Three countries visited the Red Planet in 2021, sending orbiters, landers, rovers and even a helicopter. The United Arab Emirates successfully put its first interplanetary spacecraft, called Hope , into orbit in February, to study Mars' climate.
Brian Cox slammed by MP after warning asteroid could wipe out humanity | Metro News
The parallels between the president's reaction to an asteroid hitting the planet and many politicians actual reaction to the world being under threat from a pandemic is alarming, to say the least.
Discussing the struggle getting science to always be heard with the severity it needs, Cox said: 'We need to solve it because these things, as outlandish as they seem – an asteroid in this case – are a genuine threat and will happen at some point.'
Fact check: Green meteorite over India shown in viral post online
Sky islands are "the tops of tall mountains that become environmentally isolated from each other," the magazine reported in August 2017. These islands are "separated by air rather than water."
The picture has no connection to the asteroids that passed by Earth in 2021 – including one on Dec. 11, two days before this post was shared.
First full asteroid return sample confirms early Solar System origins
The sampling indicates Ryugu has a carbon-dominated composition similar to the Sun's photosphere (outer shell), much like certain meteorites. It's made of the most primitive materials in the Solar System, emerging from the dust disc that formed along with the Sun itself.
As it stands, the very existence of these studies represents an achievement. The first attempt to return a sample, from the astroid Itokawa in 2010, only netted a tiny amount of dust.
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