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The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago crashed into Earth at ‘the deadliest possible angle’, researchers have concluded. The giant impacter struck what is today Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula at around 60 degrees — maximising the production of climate-altering greenhouse gases. The global disaster caused by the space rock — which was … Read more
Letting off steam: Astronomers spot a new kind of asteroid with a comet-like tail orbiting the sun at the same distance as Jupiter The asteroid was first spotted in 2019 and the tail was confirmed in April 2020 2019 LD2 is letting off gas which is trailing behind the space rock like a comet tail … Read more
Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft captures pictures of asteroid Ryugu in stunning detail after touching down on its surface The shots were taken on February 21, 2019, after months of study from orbit Researchers have used the image to interpret some of the asteroid’s history At one point, it must have passed close to the Sun, reddening some of … Read more
Asteroid the size of a VAN that went undetected by astronomers until the last moment comes within 9,000 miles of Earth in one of the closest flybys on record The object, called 2020 JJ, is relatively small in astronomical terms It flew past Earth at 32,000mph and around 20 times further away than the ISS … Read more
Russian scientists suggest the mysterious ‘Tunguska event’ explosion of 1908 was caused by an iron asteroid that entered the Earth’s atmosphere and then bounced back into space. The flying asteroid is thought to have skimmed the planet at a low altitude above Siberia, causing an explosion that flattened around 80 million trees over an area … Read more
Giant asteroid up to 2.5 miles wide and classed as ‘potentially hazardous’ by NASA is set to pass within 3.9 million miles of the Earth TODAY Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2 will make its closest pass to Earth on April 29 It is classed as a ‘potentially hazardous object’ by NASA because it is bigger than 459 … Read more
Asteroid half the size of Mount Everest is set to fly by Earth next week and an image shows the object ‘wearing a mask’ similar to the scientist observing it amid the coronavirus pandemic An asteroid is set to pass within 3.9 million miles of Earth April 29 It was first spotted in 1998 and … Read more
The first planet to be discovered outside our solar system was never a planet and may be a giant dust cloud created by the collision of two icy asteroids, a study finds. Astronomers spotted what was thought to be a Saturn like planet lying 25 light years from Earth in the star system Fomalhaut 12 … Read more
Elon Musk took to Twitter to share a grim meme referencing the state of the world economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Musk shared a meme Friday of an asteroid smashing through Earth and a far away astronaut exclaiming: ‘Oh God, The economy!’ The controversial entrepreneur captioned the image simply: ‘But actually.’ Someone … Read more
NASA has announced Elon Musk owned SpaceX as the company to launch a mission to the £8,000 quadrillion space rock made up of the core of a long dead planet. There are so many precious metals buried within the asteroid that it could make every single person on Earth a billionaire if it were to … Read more