asteroid

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Asteroid Just Flew by Earth in Record-Setting Fashion

Astronomers get first up-close look at 'Florence'

(Newser) - There was no reason to fret, but perhaps reason to be wowed: "Florence," an asteroid stretching an estimated 2.7 miles wide, became the largest known asteroid to come as close as it did to our planet when it whizzed by Friday at 8:06am EDT. But though...

When Dinosaurs Were Killed, Earth Went Dark for 2 Years

New study shows climate effects of asteroid impact

(Newser) - When a 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago, it caused a devastating wave of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis that killed untold number of animals and ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Then things got really bad. In a study published Monday in PNAS , scientists...

Asteroid That Wiped Out Dinosaurs Hit in Exact Wrong Place

An impact in deep ocean would have been much less catastrophic

(Newser) - Humans might never have appeared on Earth had an asteroid 66 million years ago hit a spot other than the one it did, a new BBC documentary suggests. The asteroid that felled the dinosaurs hit a shallow sea near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, sending a dense cloud of sulfur into...

Mega Asteroid to Buzz Earth on Wednesday

Not to worry, says NASA, it's still really far away

(Newser) - Here's one less thing to worry about. A giant asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, but the folks at NASA say there is no chance it could hit us. The space rock the size of the Rock of Gibraltar, per AFP , or six NFL football fields, per CNN , will make...

Futuristic Skyscraper Is Out of This World

What if your office traveled thousands of miles a day?

(Newser) - Building from the ground up is so last century. Skyscrapers of the future could very well hang from an asteroid placed into orbit over Earth, suspended over a landscape their occupants parachute down to as part of their commute home. Sound bonkers? Wackadoo? Out of this world? Popular Mechanics uses...

NASA, FEMA Simulated Asteroid Strike on Los Angeles

In their scenario, city had 4-year warning

(Newser) - A 330-foot asteroid on a collision course with downtown Los Angeles. Four years to try to stop it—or carry out mass evacuations ahead of certain devastation. That's not the plot of an unoriginal new movie, but the scenario behind a recent NASA-FEMA exercise, the New York Times reports....

New NASA 'Scout' System Silently Keeping You Safe

"Scout" and "Sentry" systems monitor the cosmos for any asteroids that could threaten Earth

(Newser) - NASA is hard at work to protect the Earth from asteroid threats, NPR reports. The agency's new "Scout" detection system scans the skies above our planet for small, nearby objects that might enter Earth's orbit. In fact, a small one between 5 and 25 meters across will...

NASA to Chase Asteroid That Has Slight Chance of Hitting Earth

But even if Bennu does strike in 170 years, it won't be end times

(Newser) - There's an asteroid out there that might slam into Earth in about 170 years, but contrary to some recent scary-sounding headlines, it won't wipe out Earthlings if it does, reports Space.com . "We're not talking about an asteroid that could destroy the Earth," says Dante...

Death by Human Extinction Far More Likely Than by Car Crash

We should be more afraid of asteroids, pandemics, and Terminators

(Newser) - Pandemics, super-volcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, asteroids, and murderous artificial intelligence. You're not more likely to die from any one of those things than in a car crash. But put all those things together, and, well, that changes things a bit, the Atlantic reports. According to the annual Global ...

Asteroid Could Come Within 11K Miles of Earth Next Month

But NASA says there's no reason to panic

(Newser) - An asteroid could pass very close—cosmically speaking—to the Earth next month. Asteroid 2013 TX68 is scheduled to pass us by on March 5, coming as close as 11,000 miles (or a little more than the distance between Seattle and South Africa), CBS News reports. However it could...

We're Getting a Christmas Eve Asteroid

There's no danger of Asteroid 163899-Santa collision

(Newser) - After Halloween's " zombie comet ," there will be another celestial visitor on Christmas Eve, and Asteroid 163899 is about as festive as a space rock can get, which is not at all. The object—also known as 2003 SD220—will be at its closest on Dec. 24, when...

'Halloween' Space Rock Is a Dead Comet

Approaching 'space zombie' looks like a skull

(Newser) - The "Halloween asteroid" set to make its closest approach to Earth today has turned out to be something spookier: a dead comet. Scientist say object 2015 TB145 looked like an asteroid when it was first spotted a few weeks ago. but closer inspection suggests that it is a comet...

'Spooky' Asteroid Will Be Very Close on Halloween

It's moving very fast in an 'eccentric' orbit

(Newser) - In what sounds like the setup to a sci-fi horror movie, an asteroid deemed "extremely eccentric" by NASA and "strikingly spooky" by Discovery will be very close to Earth on Halloween. NASA says the asteroid, 2015 TB145, is up to 1,542 feet in diameter and will be...

Scientists to See If They Can Save Earth From Asteroid

Mission in 2022 will be a test run on preventing collision

(Newser) - Come 2022, scientists will attempt to save all of humanity from an asteroid. Calm down, it's just a trial run. The joint US-European AIDA—that's Asteroid Deflection and Assessment—mission intends to crash a probe into a 525-foot-wide asteroid known as Didymoon to see if the impact will...

NASA: The World Will Continue Past Sept. 28

Agency crushes Internet rumor that asteroid strike is coming

(Newser) - It's your prerogative should you choose to live the next month of your life like it's your last, but the majority of us will live to see October, NASA says. The words of encouragement come after Internet rumors sparked fear that an asteroid strike, allegedly due between Sept....

Asteroid Named After Anti-Taliban Activist

Malala Yousafzai honored by NASA researcher

(Newser) - A dark rock you might spot orbiting the sun every 5.5 years now has its own name: 316201 Malala (2010 ML48) . The part we all understand—Malala—refers to Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, 17, who drew the world's attention by defying Taliban rule...

Biggest-Ever Asteroid Impact Found

Asteroid broke in two, scarring Earth more than 300M years ago

(Newser) - More than 300 million years after a massive asteroid collided with Earth, scientists have found the planet's 118-mile-long scars. Experts say two huge underground domes in the Earth's crust, about 19 miles beneath central Australia's Warburton Basin, are evidence of the largest and most powerful asteroid impact...

Biggest Asteroid Fly-By Until 2027 Happens Monday

Grab your binoculars to spot 2004 BL86, NASA says

(Newser) - If you've ever wanted to get a good look at an asteroid, Monday night will be your best chance for more than a decade. Asteroid 2004 BL86, a space rock about a third of a mile in diameter, will be 745,000 miles away on Monday, around three times...

How We Could Survive After the Apocalypse
How We Could Survive
After the Apocalypse
in case you missed it
Dec 27, 2014 7:33 AM CST

How We Could Survive After the Apocalypse

Joshua Pearce, David Denkenberger explain how survivors could eat for 5 years

(Newser) - Imagine this: an apocalyptic event strikes the planet—say, a super-volcano, asteroid, or nuclear winter. While a small portion of the population would die, most of us wouldn't. But the skies would blacken, our crops would die, and the darkness would keep us from sowing new ones. (Yes, LED-light-equipped...

Japan Launches Explorer to Blast Crater in Asteroid

Hayabusa 2 will shoot asteroid, collect rock samples for clues to Earth's origins

(Newser) - A Japanese space explorer took off today on a six-year journey to blow a crater in a remote asteroid and bring back rock samples in hopes of gathering clues to the origin of Earth. Hayabusa 2 is expected to reach the asteroid in mid-2018, spend about 18 months studying it,...

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