Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Stories

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Surprising Phosphate Finding in NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample

6 min read

Scientists have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dig into the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission since it was delivered to Earth last fall. They…

Article4 days ago
This artist’s concept shows ESA’s Hera spacecraft and its CubeSats in orbit around the Dimorphos moonlet

NASA Selects Participating Scientists to Join ESA’s Hera Mission

3 min read

NASA has selected 12 participating scientists to join ESA’s (European Space Agency) Hera mission, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024. Hera will study the binary asteroid system Didymos, including the moonlet Dimorphos, which was impacted by NASA’s DART…

Article5 days ago

NASA Lucy Images Reveal Asteroid Dinkinesh to be Surprisingly Complex

4 min read

Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh where a large piece — about a quarter of the asteroid — suddenly shifted, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite…

Article1 month ago