Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors

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Defending Earth From Cosmic Threats: Planetary Defense Experts Unite!
https://scitechdaily.com/defending-eart ... rts-unite/

By NASA April 13, 2023
Near Earth Asteroid Animation

The 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference was held in Vienna with the aim of discussing ongoing efforts focused on addressing the asteroid impact hazard. Scientists, engineers, policymakers, and other Planetary Defense experts shared their respective knowledge and expertise to encourage coordination among global asteroid impact mitigation. The conference allowed attendees to hear from national policymakers on how to coordinate response to emergency events and what information would be needed from the Planetary Defense community about an impending asteroid impact. Ultimately, preventing an asteroid impact with Earth and avoiding a catastrophic natural disaster poses a complex problem that requires a multidisciplinary approach and international coordination.

The 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference was held in Vienna to discuss efforts focused on addressing the asteroid impact hazard. Participants shared their knowledge and expertise to encourage coordination among global asteroid impact mitigation, and the conference also saw the release of the updated National Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan for Near-Earth Objects and Planetary Defense.

In a world where many global challenges exist, finding ways to respond to an as yet undiscovered asteroid that might one day impact Earth could seem like a lesser priority. While it is true there are currently no known asteroids of significant size on a collision trajectory with Earth, an asteroid impact with our planet has potential for catastrophic damage and could change the course of civilization as we know it. Equipped with this understanding, Planetary Defense experts around the globe convened last week in Vienna, Austria, for the 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) to discuss ongoing efforts focused on addressing the asteroid impact hazard.

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Mystery Rock That Damaged a New Jersey Home Could Be a Shooting Star
by Morgan McFall-Johnsen
May 11, 2023

Introduction:

(Science Alert) A grapefruit-sized metallic object fell from the sky, straight through the roof of a New Jersey home, and crashed into the floor of the bedroom on Monday, according to local reports.

Police who responded to the incident in Hopewell, New Jersey, believe the falling object may be a meteorite, possibly from the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, which peaked this weekend.

Nobody was home when the likely meteorite shot into the house, punching a hole in the roof and appearing to dent the floor, at about 1:15 pm local time, according to police.

"We are thinking it's a meteorite, came through here, hit the floor here because that's completely damaged, it ricocheted up to this part of the ceiling and then finally coming down and resting just on the floor there," Suzy Kop, who said the object fell into her father's bedroom, told CBS News Philadelphia.

"I did touch the thing because I just thought it was a random rock, I don't know, and it was warm," she said.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/mystery-r ... ing-star


The potential meteorite, in the bedroom where it landed.
(Hopewell Township Police Department/BI)

[wjfox]

The most dangerous asteroids of the next 1,000 years

3rd June 2023

Astronomers have mapped the paths of potentially hazardous 1 km+ asteroids between now and the year 3000 AD. At least 28 are found to have non-zero probabilities of a 'deep encounter' with Earth.

Read more: https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... ranked.htm

[wjfox]

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First Known Boomerang Meteorite? This Space Rock Might Have Come From Earth
by Dr Alfredo Carpineti, PhD.
July 14, 2023

Introduction:

(IFL Science) Scientists might have found a truly weird rock. It looks like a meteorite, but its composition is very close to that of rocks that form deep in the ocean. And so, they have proposed a radical explanation: that this rock was knocked off the Earth, flew through space for maybe thousands of years, and then came back to Earth.

The meteorite was recovered in the Maghreb and purchased in Morocco in 2018. It has the designation Northwest Africa 13188 and a mass of 646 grams (23 ounces). Its chemical composition is dominated by two minerals, plagioclase and pyroxene, which make up about three-quarters of the meteorite. On top of that, the team looked at the isotopic composition of the rock, in particular of oxygen.

The chemical properties of elements are defined by the number of protons in their nucleus and, by consequence, the number of electrons that orbit said nucleus. But they can come in variants that are either lighter or heavier, which depends on the number of neutrons that are also present in the nucleus.

Oxygen is no exception. Almost all oxygen is O-16 (which has eight protons and eight neutrons), but there is a tiny percentage of O-17 and O-18 in nature. Different celestial bodies have different fractions of them, so scientists can use this like a fingerprint to track where an object is from. The minerals and the isotopic composition point to this rock being very much an Earthly one.

But that is not the full picture. The rock has a well-developed fusion crust. That is typical of meteorites. It would be difficult to fake it, though not impossible. But what really sells it as a meteorite is the concentration of isotopes of beryllium, helium, and neon that are consistent with a rock being exposed to cosmic rays for 10,000 years.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/boomerang-m ... rth-69826

[wjfox]

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World's 1st mountaintop impact crater discovered in northeastern China
By Stephanie Pappas published about 19 hours ago
A two-peaked mountain in northeastern China is the site of the world's first confirmed mountaintop crater.

A nearly mile-wide (1.6 kilometer) divot in a Chinese mountaintop is actually an impact crater from a long-ago meteorite landing.

The newly discovered crater, located in northeastern China not far from the North Korean border, is the first confirmed mountaintop crater on Earth. Researchers aren't sure when the impact happened, but it left a circular depression and split the mountaintop into two peaks, known as Front Baijifeng and Rear Baijifeng.

The mountain peaks are littered with rock fragments known locally as "celestial stone," which turns out to be a scientifically accurate moniker. According to a new study, published Sept. 1 in the journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes, rocks on the peaks bear the telltale shock patterns of an impact with a space object.

The researchers were intrigued by the shape of the depression between the mountain's two peaks, which spans about 4,593 feet (1,400 meters), and by the debris-like scattering of large sandstone fragments on the mountain.

More:
https://www.space.com/earths-1st-mounta ... tern-china

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[firestar464]

old news

https://www.space.com/meteorite-impacts ... 2023-video

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OSIRIS-REx Successfully Drops Precious Pieces of Asteroid Bennu In Utah Desert
Dr Alfredo Carpineti
September 24, 2023

Introduction:

(IFL Science) SIRIS-REx has successfully completed its primary mission: to collect a sample of material from asteroid Bennu, pack it up into a capsule, and fly back to Earth. After seven years in space, and a few billion miles around the Sun (to save fuel), the orbits of our planet and the spacecraft crossed again, allowing the precious delivery of the first-ever US asteroid sample return to be made.

The cosmic package – signed, sealed, and delivered – landed safely in the US Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range on Sunday, September 24 at 8:52 am local time (2:52 pm UTC). It was collected in a helicopter in a well-rehearsed approach and taken to a special kitted-up room to avoid Earthly contamination. Protective items like the heat shield and back shell will be removed there and nitrogen will be used to remove oxygen and moisture from the sample canister.

Tomorrow morning a Boeing C-17 plane will fly the capsule down to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and that is where the fun begins.

Why was Bennu chosen for the asteroid sample?

Asteroid Bennu, the most dangerous known asteroid, is a window into the very beginning of the Solar System. A primitive space rock that has remained mostly unaltered for billions of years, studying its physical and chemical properties could give us hints about the building blocks of planets as they were forming 4.5 billion years ago.

Bennu is a rubble pile, loosely held together by gravity. OSIRIS-REx was able to estimate the density and porosity (the amount of empty space) of the whole asteroid but this can now be checked and compared with what is gleaned by the sample.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/osiris-rex- ... t-70827



The sample is back on Earth.
Image Credit: NASA

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[Powers]

Big if true.

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In a dated article that ties the previous three posts together:

NASA Spacecraft Provides Insight into Asteroid Bennu’s Future Orbit
August 11, 2021

Introduction:

(NASA) In a study released Wednesday, NASA researchers used precision-tracking data from the agency’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft to better understand movements of the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu through the year 2300, significantly reducing uncertainties related to its future orbit, and improving scientists’ ability to determine the total impact probability and predict orbits of other asteroids.

The study, titled “Ephemeris and hazard assessment for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu based on OSIRIS-REx data,” was published in the journal Icarus.

“NASA’s Planetary Defense mission is to find and monitor asteroids and comets that can come near Earth and may pose a hazard to our planet,” said Kelly Fast, program manager for the Near-Earth Object Observations Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We carry out this endeavor through continuing astronomical surveys that collect data to discover previously unknown objects and refine our orbital models for them. The OSIRIS-REx mission has provided an extraordinary opportunity to refine and test these models, helping us better predict where Bennu will be when it makes its close approach to Earth more than a century from now.”

In 2135, asteroid Bennu will make a close approach with Earth. Although the near-Earth object will not pose a danger to our planet at that time, scientists must understand Bennu’s exact trajectory during that encounter in order to predict how Earth’s gravity will alter the asteroid’s path around the Sun – and affect the hazard of Earth impact.

Using NASA’s Deep Space Network and state-of-the-art computer models, scientists were able to significantly shrink uncertainties in Bennu’s orbit, determining its total impact probability through the year 2300 is about 1 in 1,750 (or 0.057%). The researchers were also able to identify Sept. 24, 2182, as the most significant single date in terms of a potential impact, with an impact probability of 1 in 2,700 (or about 0.037%).

Read more here: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nas ... -orbit

[wjfox]

Watch live: Nasa unveils first sample from Bennu asteroid

– Scientists at US space agency Nasa are holding a news conference where they have unveiled first pictures of the space rock extracted from the Bennu asteroid

– The material, scooped up by a Nasa probe and returned to Earth last month, is currently being examined in a special lab in Texas

– The mission team thinks it has about 250g (9oz) of space dust although they will know for sure in a few days

– Quantities of the material will be shared with scientists around the world who will examine it for clues about the formation of the Solar System

– You can watch the news conference live by clicking the play button in the picture above

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science ... t-67075218

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[raklian]

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NASA set to journey to a metal-rich asteroid
https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nasa-jour ... eroid.html
by Chandan Khanna with Issam Ahmed in Washington

A NASA probe is set to blast off bound for Psyche, an object 2.2 billion miles (3.5 billion kilometers) away that could offer clues about the interior of planets like Earth.

It's a world like no other: a metal-rich asteroid that could be the remnants of a small planet, or perhaps an entirely new type of celestial body unknown to science.

A NASA probe is set to blast off Friday bound for Psyche, an object 2.2 billion miles (3.5 billion kilometers) away that could offer clues about the interior of planets like Earth.

"We've visited either in person or robotically worlds made of rock, worlds made of ice and worlds made of gas... but this will be our first time visiting a world that has a metal surface," lead scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton told reporters during a briefing this week.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting Friday at 10:19 am Eastern Time (1419 GMT) for launch from Kennedy Space Center, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, with a backup window on Saturday if weather conditions are unfavorable.

Trailing a blue glow from its next-generation electric propulsion system and flanked by two large solar arrays, the van-sized probe should arrive at its destination in the Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter, in July 2029.

[wjfox]

Nasa probe launches to metal asteroid Psyche

58 minutes ago

An American space agency (Nasa) probe has left Earth to visit one of the most unusual objects in the Solar System.

The craft is heading to a metal world - an asteroid called 16 Psyche - which telescopic observations suggest is made from up to 60% iron and nickel.

Scientists think it may be the remnant core of a planet-like object that had its outer rocky layers stripped off.

The launch of the investigating spacecraft, also named Psyche, took place from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

A Falcon-Heavy rocket left the ground at precisely 10:19:43 local time (14:19 GMT; 15:19 BST) to hurl the probe on what will be a six-year, 3.5 billion km (2.2 billion miles) journey to its destination, out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67099605

[raklian]

Interesting!

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NASA's Lucy spacecraft swoops past first of 10 asteroids on long journey to Jupiter
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nasa-lucy ... roids.html
by Marcia Dunn

NASA's Lucy spacecraft on Wednesday encountered the first of 10 asteroids on its long journey to Jupiter.

The spacecraft on Wednesday swooped past the pint-sized Dinkinesh, about 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. It was "a quick hello," according to NASA, with the spacecraft zooming by at 10,000 mph (16,000 kph).

Lucy came within 270 miles (435 kilometers) of Dinkinesh, testing its instruments in a dry run for the bigger and more alluring asteroids ahead. Dinkinesh is just a half-mile (1 kilometer) across, quite possibly the smallest of the space rocks on Lucy's tour.

Lucy's main targets are the so-called Trojans, swarms of unexplored asteroids out near Jupiter that are considered to be time capsules from the dawn of the solar system. The spacecraft will swing past eight Trojans believed to be up to 10 to 100 times bigger than Dinkinesh. It's due to zip past the final two asteroids in 2033.