The dinosaur extinction event that happened some 66 million years ago has been studied from many angles. We know a lot about the devastating effects of the huge alien rock that might have originated from the edge of our solar system. The asteroid that struck Mexico was as strong as 10 billion atomic bombs. Scientists …
In disaster movies, games, or TV shows where there is an asteroid headed for Earth, the news always comes as a shock. Depending on the specifics of the story, the population of the planet may have anywhere from a few days to a few months to prepare for the inevitable. Things always seem grim, but …
When a chunk of space rock makes it to the surface of Earth there’s always a question as to where it originated. Scientists have gotten quite good at being able to trace the source of various pieces of space debris based on the makeup of the rock as well as the position of Earth and …
It was only 5 years ago that NASA launched its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on a mission to visit the space rock known as Bennu. Bennu is a large rocky asteroid that served as a great subject for study, and NASA’s trusty probe not only mapped its surface and made a bunch of observations, but also performed …
The most devastating event in Earth’s history, as far as life is concerned, was the mass extinction that followed the impact of a colossal asteroid. That event is the reason dinosaurs aren’t around today and, perhaps more importantly, why mammals had a chance to boom and why we’re all here today. But now that we’re …
It’s largely agreed upon in the scientific community that a massive impactor was what ultimately doomed the dinosaurs to extinction. Where that object came from has been the subject of debate, but Harvard scientists have proposed a possible explanation. A team of researchers from the university offers the theory that the impactor originated near the …
The largest asteroid expected to make a close pass of Earth in 2021 will arrive in late March, coming within roughly 1.2 million miles of our planet. The rock, called 2001 FO32, is considered by NASA to be a “potentially hazardous asteroid” due to its habit of coming relatively close to our planet. The object …
NASA’s next asteroid mission will attempt to visit the space rock called 16 Psyche. The mission will, of course, include a spacecraft that will travel to the asteroid over the course of several years, eventually arriving in early 2026. The spacecraft, which is slated to launch in mid-2020, is now officially in its assembly phase, …
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid probe has been orbiting the space rock known as Bennu for many months now. The spacecraft successfully gathered samples from the massive asteroid and will return that material to Earth so scientists can study it. NASA just announced its timeframe for departing from the asteroid. Despite a global pandemic dramatically changing the …
The mysterious, cigar-shaped asteroid that zipped through our solar system back in 2017 may have been a piece of alien space junk. Harvard professor Avi Loeb suggests that the object could have been a discarded piece of trash from an alien civilization residing nearby. The asteroid’s shape and bizarre behavior are what led Loeb to …
