IRON AND ICE

News About Asteroids And Comets

2,240 articles

Dawn begins exploration of the first dwarf planet
Feb 26, 2015 (JPL)
The Dawn spacecraft is performing flawlessly as it conducts the first exploration of the first dwarf planet. Each new picture of Ceres reveals exciting and surp...
'Bright Spot' on Ceres Has Dimmer Companion
Feb 26, 2015 (JPL)
Dwarf planet Ceres continues to puzzle scientists as NASA's Dawn spacecraft gets closer to being captured into orbit around the object. The latest images from D...
Be My Valentine: Rosetta Spacecraft Makes Close Pass by Comet 67P
Feb 18, 2015 (Sputnik)
The probe passed mere 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the surface of the ice ball in a unique display of affection on the Valentine's Day. The Rosetta spacecraft ...
Dawn Captures Sharper Images of Ceres
Feb 18, 2015 (JPL)
Craters and mysterious bright spots are beginning to pop out in the latest images of Ceres from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. These images, taken Feb. 12 at a distanc...
Rosetta probe gets best comet closeup pics yet
Feb 16, 2015 (UPI)
Rosetta, the space probe currently orbiting 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, came within 3.7 miles of the comet over the weekend, the closest it's been since the craf...
Why Comets Are Like Deep Fried Ice Cream
Feb 11, 2015 (JPL)
Astronomers tinkering with ice and organics in the lab may have discovered why comets are encased in a hard, outer crust. Using an icebox-like instrument nickna...
Number of Known Accessible Near-Earth Asteroids Doubles Since 2010
Feb 10, 2015 (SPX)
NASA performed the first Near-Earth Object Human Space Flight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) in September/October of 2010, and 666 of the known near-Earth ast...
Rosetta photos: Comet's material becoming more volatile as it nears sun
Feb 09, 2015 (UPI)
As the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko nears the sun, its jets are heating up -- spewing noxious gases and water vapor into space as it speeds along at roughly ...
Dawn Gets Closer Views of Ceres
Feb 06, 2015 (JPL)
NASA's Dawn spacecraft, on approach to dwarf planet Ceres, has acquired its latest and closest-yet snapshot of this mysterious world. The image of Ceres, taken ...
Rosetta swoops in for a close encounter
Feb 05, 2015 (ESA)
ESA's Rosetta probe is preparing to make a close encounter with its comet on 14 February, passing just 6 km from the surface. Yesterday was Rosetta's last day a...
Surface composition of BL86 studies during Earth flyby
Jan 29, 2015 (SPX)
Planetary Science Institute researchers Vishnu Reddy and Driss Takir studied the surface composition of near-Earth asteroid 2004 BL86 during its close flyby of ...
The mouth of the beast
Jan 29, 2015 (SPX)
In 1976 several elongated comet-like objects were discovered on pictures taken with the UK Schmidt Telescope in Australia. Because of their appearance, they bec...
Rosetta watches comet shed its dusty coat
Jan 27, 2015 (ESA)
ESA's Rosetta mission is providing unique insight into the life cycle of a comet's dusty surface, watching 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it sheds the dusty coat ...
Asteroid That Flew Past Earth Has Moon
Jan 27, 2015 (JPL)
Scientists working with NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, have released the first radar images of asteroid 20...
NEOWISE: A Yearlong Look at the Sky
Jan 26, 2015 (JPL)
NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft discovered and characterized 40 near-Earth objects (NEOs) in the first year after the m...
Scientists befuddled by mysterious white spot on Ceres
Jan 26, 2015 (UPI)
Everyday, NASA's Dawn probe gets a bit closer to the dwarf planet Ceres. They're hoping this history-making flyby can answer questions and offer scientists a ne...
Cosmic puzzle settled: Comets give us shooting stars
Jan 26, 2015 (AFP)
Suspicions that shooting stars come from comet dust, transformed into fiery streaks as they hit Earth's atmosphere, have been bolstered by Europe's Rosetta spac...
Rosetta Comet 'Pouring' More Water Into Space
Jan 23, 2015 (JPL)
There has been a significant increase in the amount of water "pouring" out of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the comet on which the Rosetta mission's Philae l...
Gullies on Vesta Suggest Past Water-Mobilized Flows
Jan 23, 2015 (JPL)
Protoplanet Vesta, visited by NASA's Dawn spacecraft from 2011 to 2013, was once thought to be completely dry, incapable of retaining water because of the low t...
Updated Charts for Asteroid 2004 BL86 Earth Flyby on Jan 26, 2015
Jan 23, 2015 (JPL)
This diagram shows the close passage of 2004 BL86 on January 26, 2015. The view is nearly edge-on to the Earth's orbit; the Moon's nearly circular orbit is high...
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