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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: asteroid

asteroid stories: 11 news summaries

 Scientists Track Meteor 
 to Earth for First Time 

Discovery is like first clue to asteroid 'Rosetta Stone'

Mar 25, 09 5:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - Scientists have accomplished a first by tracking an asteroid from space into Earth's atmosphere and down to a Sudanese desert, Wired reports. A team of searchers found about 280 small chunks of the meteor, all of a type never before collected. "This is like the first step toward a... More »

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astronomy • Sudan • asteroid • scientific discoveries • meteorites • scientific breakthroughs

(Newser) - Scientists told the UN today that the world needs a $100 million system to seek and destroy incoming asteroids, the Guardian reports. Asteroids large enough to cause significant damage strike Earth two or three times every thousand years, they said, and the effects can be catastrophic. "We cannot shirk... More »

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Earth • asteroid

Odds of Cataclysmic Space-Rock Crash: 1 in 10

Despite danger, NASA doing little to protect planet

May 25, 08 6:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Chicken Little may have been smarter than we thought. A growing body of evidence reveals that the sky is falling, or at least gigantic space rocks are—and the Earth is at far greater risk of a catastrophic strike than previously thought, reports Atlantic. Despite the danger—an impact could... More »

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NASA • astronomy • extinction • comet • asteroid • crater • space program • armageddon

 Asteroids Could Reseed
 a Devastated Earth 

Rock-dwelling microorganisms would make it back from space

May 18, 08 3:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - If a comet ever obliterates life on Earth, don't worry—space rocks could later fall in and reseed a few basic life forms. A new study shows that organisms can survive being hit by a meteor, ejected into space, and hurtled back to Earth on the face of a rock—... More »

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Mars • space • Earth • microorganisms • life • asteroid • meteorites • space debris

Asteroid to Whiz Past Earth

Space rock to be visible Tuesday even through amateur telescopes

Jan 25, 08 9:49 AM CST
(Newser) - A big asteroid is set to speed past Earth on Tuesday night, and those with amateur telescopes will get a peek. NASA discovered the object in October, and scientists believe it's between 500 and 2,000 feet in diameter, LiveScience reports. It won't come closer than 334,000 miles to... More »

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NASA • astronomy • Mars • Earth • asteroid • orbit

Asteroid Won't Slam Into Mars After All

Disappointed scientists were hoping
to study collision

Jan 11, 08 4:24 AM CST
(Newser) - An asteroid heading toward Mars won't crash into it after all, according to disappointed scientists. They had initially calculated there was a 1-in-27 chance of the space rock hitting the red planet, but after new observations researchers estimate the odds are only 1 in 10,000, "effectively ruling out... More »

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NASA • Mars • space • asteroid • near earth objects

Mars Smash Looking Likelier

Still a longshot, but cosmic collision now a 25-1 chance

Dec 29, 07 7:55 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists say the chances of a giant asteroid smashing into Mars on January 30 have gone up steeply, the AP reports. It's still a 25-1 longshot, but stargazers have their fingers crossed. I think it'll be cool," said a NASA tracker. "Usually when an asteroid is headed toward... More »

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NASA • Mars • space • asteroid

Asteroid On Path to Smash Mars

Big rock has a good chance of striking on Jan. 30

Dec 20, 07 8:17 PM CST
(Newser) - A big asteroid has a decent chance of blasting into Mars next month with potentially devastating consequences for the Red Planet, the LA Times reports. Back on earth, meanwhile, astronomers say that being able to watch an asteroid impact for the first time would be a "scientific bonanza."... More »

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Mars • Siberia • asteroid

Volcanoes Helped Doom Dinos

Research shows extinction resulted from not only an asteroid but volcanoes too

Nov 13, 07 2:42 PM CST
(Newser) - Not one but two catastrophic events may have spelled destruction for the Age of Dinosaurs, previously thought to have ended when an asteroid or comet struck the earth. New research suggests the prehistoric giants died off in “an unfortunate coincidence of a one-two punch—of Deccan volcanism and then... More »

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natural history • extinction • dinosaur • asteroid • volcano

NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket

First 'interplanetary' spaceship to visit two asteroids

Sep 27, 07 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - This morning NASA launched a spacecraft that's headed to the asteroid belt, where it will get a close-up look at the belt's largest bodies, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.  It's NASA’s first multi-target mission, and Dawn, which one engineer called “the first real interplanetary spaceship,... More »

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NASA • solar system • asteroid • asteroid belt • Dawn • Vesta • Ceres

Probe to Study Asteroid Too Close to Earth

Scientists weighing options on how to veer giant rock off collision course

Aug 31, 07 6:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers are preparing to send a probe to investigate an asteroid that in 2029 will pass closer to Earth than communications satellites do. The mission would gather information on the 1,000-foot-wide rock to figure out whether it poses a serious danger the next time it passes Earth in 2036. More »

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space • asteroid

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