Earth Safe From Asteroid 2024 YR4, NASA Says
Astronomers have been carefully watching 2024 YR4, a space rock with a heightened chance of hitting Earth in 2032. But fear not: NASA announced on Monday that it posed a…
Earth’s 1st Asteroid Mining Prospector Heads to the Launchpad
A private company is aiming to heave a microwave oven-size spacecraft toward an asteroid later this week, its goal to kick off a future where precious metals are mined around…
Will That Asteroid Strike Earth? Risk Level Rises to Highest Ever Recorded.
Astronomers on Tuesday said that the asteroid designated 2024 YR4 had become the most likely sizable space rock ever forecast to impact planet Earth. The object, first detected in December,…
Why the Odds of an Asteroid Striking Earth in 2032 Keep Going Up (and Down)
Since December, astronomers have been carefully studying whether an asteroid between 130 and 300 feet long will impact the Earth in just under eight years. And the odds, overall, seem…
Asteroid 2024 YR4 Could Strike Earth, Researchers Say, But the Odds are Small
You may hear about a large asteroid headed toward Earth. Don’t panic. Just after Christmas Day, astronomers spotted something zipping away from Earth: a rock somewhere between 130 feet and…
Life’s Building Blocks Lurked Inside NASA’s Bennu Asteroid Samples
Our solar system contains planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and comets — but only one world is known to harbor life. Scientists have long debated whether Earth is truly unique. Perhaps…
Earth’s Mini-Moon Was Probably a Piece of Its Real Moon
For a few months last fall, a school-bus-size space rock named 2024 PT5 gained fame as Earth’s new “mini-moon.” Astronomers rushed to study the object while it was still close…