SciencePhysics & Chemistry

Experiment Could Help Scientists Predict Avalanches Through Sound

It turns out that 8,000 tiny plastic disks in a rotating drum could help scientists develop a technique to forecast avalanches or earthquakes through sound. A team of researchers studying granular materials at North Carolina State University set up an experiment to recreate stick-slip failure events—jolts of force from two things sliding against one another. … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Why Is This Asteroid Orbiting the Wrong Way Around the Sun?

Asteroid 2015 BZ509 is orbiting the wrong way around the Sun. Why? According to a hyped new paper from astronomers Fathi Namouni and Helen Morais, this asteroid with its contrary orbit may not be native to our Solar System at all—it may have been captured from interstellar space. If that’s true, it could be important … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

How the Hell Did This Asteroid Get All the Way Out Past Neptune?

A rock that formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter seems to have somehow traveled to the orbit of Neptune, according to a new observation. When scientists first observed the 291-kilometer-wide asteroid dubbed “2004 EW95,” they immediately knew something strange, based on the way it reflected too little ultraviolet light. When they took … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Asteroids Really Could Have Brought Water to Earth, Experiment With Giant Rock Blaster Shows

You may have heard the theory that asteroids are responsible for Earth’s water. You may also have thought, hah, there’s no way that asteroids could have brought all that water to Earth. But fake asteroid impacts are now demonstrating that, yeah, maybe they did. Scientists from Brown University have found that the melted rocks from … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Weekend Asteroid Flyby Confirms We’re Worrying About the Wrong Space Rocks

An asteroid approximately the size of a football field flew close by Earth only a day after it was first spotted this weekend. This near miss is a perfect example of an argument I’ve been making for some time: These are the asteroids we should worry about, not the so-called potentially hazardous rocks being tracked … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Here Is FEMA’s Plan If the Falling Chinese Satellite Takes Aim at a US City

China’s defunct space station Tiangong-1 will soon plummet toward Earth, likely this weekend. You will almost certainly not be harmed in any way by it—the odds of it striking an individual person are worse than winning the lottery or being struck by lightning. You should not worry about it. But we’re humans. We’re all probably … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

The ‘Oumuamua Asteroid Likely Came From a Tatooine-Like Star System

Last October, astronomers detected the very first interstellar object, an asteroid dubbed ‘Oumuamua. New research suggests this visitor from afar likely came from a binary star system, and that astronomers should be on the lookout for both interstellar asteroids and comets. Traveling at a mind-bending speed of 67,100 miles per hour (the equivalent of mach … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Instead of Nuking an Asteroid Headed Toward Earth, We Could Just Splash It With Paint

Recent headlines have contained lots of asteroid-nuking talk. There’s a team of Russian scientists zapping mini asteroids in their lab, and supposedly NASA is thinking about a plan that would hypothetically involve nuking Bennu should it threaten Earth in 2135. It’s true that NASA is drafting up ideas on how one might nuke an incoming … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Russian Scientists Are Devising a Plan to Nuke Asteroids

You may have thought, “Hey, if we’re threatened by an incoming asteroid, we should just nuke it!” You’re not alone: a team of Russian scientists are working on a plot to do so, by detonating miniature asteroids in a lab. In fact, several groups of researchers are now toying with the idea of asteroid nuking … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

There’s Only the Tiniest Chance That Musk’s Tesla Will Crash Back to Earth, but We’ll Take it

By now it’s old news—somewhere in space, there’s a red Tesla Roadster with a spacesuit-wearing dummy in the passenger’s seat. It probably doesn’t drive anymore, and NASA has officially listed it as a celestial object. But now that it’s out there, the next question is, well, will it crash into anything? A team of researchers … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Interstellar Asteroids Like ‘Oumuamua Could Rewrite the Origins of Life on Earth

Late last year, astronomers detected the first known interstellar asteroid, dubbed ‘Oumuamua. New research suggests these exotic objects are more abundant than we thought, an observation that boosts the panspermia hypothesis—the idea that asteroids seeded life on Earth. At the same time, the presence of so many foreign objects in our Solar System could also … Continued

Tech News

Preliminary Scan Suggests This Interstellar Visitor Is Not an Alien Spaceship

On October 19, 2017, astronomers witnessed the first known interstellar asteroid—a bizarre, cigar-shaped rock that, just as quickly as it entered into our Solar System, exited in a hurry. Not satisfied that ‘Oumuamua, as it’s been named, is just an odd asteroid, astronomers from Breakthrough Listen recently tuned their Green Bank telescope into the object … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Incoming Meteors Explode From the Inside, Simulations Suggest

Tomorrow night (weather permitting), you might be able to peer up to the sky and see some of the year’s brightest meteors, the Geminids. And now, thanks to new research, you may have a better understanding of why they sometimes blow up and make those spectacular flashes. You might remember the incredible Chelyabinsk meteor exploding … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

An Asteroid Will Pass Near Earth Next Month But No, You Don’t Have to Worry

Every day it seems another natural disaster could bring about the apocalypse. Volcanoes. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Sometimes that list includes asteroids. But despite exaggerated headlines from the usual suspects, there’s no need to worry about the latest nearby asteroid approach. (3200) Phaethon is a rock five kilometers in diameter with an oblong orbit that intersects Earth. It’s scheduled to … Continued

Tech News

The First Known Interstellar Asteroid Looks Incredibly Weird 

Scientists know of 750,000 or so asteroids and comets—and all of them are part of this fine solar system. That is, all of them but one. And as new research shows, it’s weird as hell. Today, scientists are reporting their analysis of ‘Oumuamua, an interstellar object spotted last month. The oddly-shaped, fast-moving rock immediately surprised … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Close Encounter With Asteroid Will Test Earth’s Early Warning System

Early tomorrow, a small asteroid will zip past Earth well inside the Moon’s orbit. NASA says poses no threat, but astronomers around the world will use the opportunity to test the international community’s ability to detect and track potentially dangerous objects. The asteroid is called 2012 TC4, and it measures somewhere between 50 to 100 … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Swarms of Satellites That Surf the Solar Wind Could Be the Future of Asteroid Mining

Asteroid mining—which may be necessary to get the human species off its only rock—has inched closer to reality over the last few years. Last week, asteroid mining groups joined with scientists at the European Planetary Science Congress 2017 (EPSC2017) hosted in Riga, Latvia, to present some key findings of the current efforts to begin off-planet … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

This Is One of the Strangest Objects Ever Discovered in the Solar System

Is it an asteroid? A comet? Both? Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new details about a strange binary asteroid that’s performing double-duty as a comet. It’s the first time scientists have ever seen such a thing. Back in 2006, Spacewatch discovered an asteroid named 300163 (2006 VW139). Astronomers using the Pan-STARRS telescope … Continued

Tech News

The Hottest Known Temperature On Earth Was Caused By an Ancient Asteroid Strike

Around 36 million years ago, an asteroid smashed into what is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. New research suggests that, for a brief time, the temperature at the point of impact exceeded 4,300 degrees F (2,370 C), making it the hottest temperature known to have occurred on Earth. Researchers from Curtin University … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Watch NASA’s Asteroid-Bound Spacecraft Barrel Towards Earth

Something just popped into one NASA telescope’s view, and it isn’t a star or a meteor—it’s one of our spacecraft. It’s hurtling towards planet Earth right now. There isn’t any danger, if you were worried. After last year’s launch, the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is on its way back … Continued