IRON AND ICE - RADAR DAILY

Nov 22, 2019 (SPX)

The team analyzed three meteorites with their original protocol and found sugars in two meteorites. "Analysis of sugars in meteorites is so difficult. Over the ...

Emissions from complex organic molecules detected in comet

Nov 19, 2019 (SPX)

These unidentified infrared emissions are likely due to complex organic molecules, both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, contaminated by N- or O-atoms. Cons...

How LISA Pathfinder detected dozens of 'comet crumbs'

Nov 19, 2019 (SPX)

Most of these particles, known as micrometeroids, have masses measured in micrograms, similar to a small grain of sand. But at speeds reaching 40,000 mph (64,00...

Campaign launched to support Hera asteroid mission

Nov 18, 2019 (SPX)

During the press conference, organisers released an open letter signed by more than 1,200 scientists and concerned citizens supporting increased knowledge of ne...

The voyage home: Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe to head for Earth

Nov 13, 2019 (AFP)

The long voyage home would begin at 10:05 am (0105 GMT), with the probe expected to drop off its precious samples some time late 2020, the Japan Aerospace Explo...

China to meet challenges of exploring asteroid, comet

Nov 07, 2019 (XNA)

The proposed mission is to send a probe around an asteroid named 2016HO3 and then land on it to collect samples, Huang Jiangchuan, a researcher from the China A...

Apollo astronaut champions Hera for planetary defence

Nov 06, 2019 (ESA)

"For asteroid deflection by kinetic impact, we stopped talking about a single deflection mission and we've started talking about a deflection campaign instead, ...

Asteroid Hygiea could be the smallest dwarf planet yet

Oct 29, 2019 (SPX)

For the first time, astronomers have observed Hygiea in sufficiently high resolution to study its surface and determine its shape and size. They found that Hygi...

Did an extraterrestrial impact trigger the extinction of ice-age animals?

Oct 28, 2019 (SPX)

The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, controversial from the time it was presented in 2007, proposes that an asteroid or comet hit the Earth about 12,800 years a...

Beyond Jupiter, Researchers Discover a 'Cradle of Comets'

Oct 24, 2019 (SPX)

But comets aren't born that way, and their pathway from their original formation location toward the inner solar system has been debated for a long time. Comets...

Lucy mission to trojan asteroids completes CDR

Oct 23, 2019 (SPX)

With the successful completion of its critical design review last week, the Lucy spacecraft is on track to begin a 12-year journey of almost 4 billion miles to ...

It really was the asteroid

Oct 23, 2019 (SPX)

The impact of a celestial body left traces: the "Chicxulub crater" in the Gulf of Mexico and tiny amounts of iridium in sediments. Up to 75 percent of all anima...

Near-Earth asteroids spectroscopic survey at Isaac Newton Telescope

Oct 18, 2019 (SPX)

In the framework of the EURONEAR collaboration, a group of astronomers performed a spectroscopic survey of NEAs using the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) equipped ...

Interstellar comet with a familiar look

Oct 15, 2019 (SPX)

A team of scientists led by astronomers from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland had done their homework well ahead of time. Prompted by the earlier v...

Scientist helps discover how water is regenerated on asteroids

Oct 09, 2019 (SPX)

Published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the new research shows water can be replenished on the surface of asteroids if both solar wind and impacting meteoroi...

Draconid meteor shower to light up the skies

Oct 08, 2019 (UPI)

Though meteors will continue to streak across the night sky through Thursday, Tuesday night likely offers the best chance to see at least a handful of shooting ...

Characterizing near-earth objects to understand impact risks, exploration potential

Oct 01, 2019 (SPX)

"We are going to be looking at the trajectory, spin, shape, mass, composition and size of NEOs, which allows us to look forward in time and understand if they p...

Astronomers detect gas molecules in comet from another star

Oct 01, 2019 (SPX)

The discovery marks an important step forward for science as it will now allow scientists to begin deciphering exactly what these objects are made of and how ou...

NASA's Webb to unlock the mysteries of comets and the early solar system

Sep 27, 2019 (SPX)

We now know that comets - which are clumps of rock, dirt, dust, and ice in space - are not harbingers of doom, but there is still much we don't know about them....

Iron magma could explain Psyche's density puzzle

Sep 25, 2019 (SPX)

Psyche, the largest known metallic asteroid in the solar system, is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche appears to be composed largely...