She’s worried about the a-rock-alypse. A planetary defense expert is warning that humanity is defenseless against up to 15,000 undetected near-Earth asteroids that have the potential to take out a ...

What if violent asteroid impacts actually jump-started life on Earth? Explore a dramatic theory. What if asteroids, long feared as destroyers of life, were key to our existence? Explore a ...

A new generation of rockets aims to unlock new business models in space, including the science fiction dream of extracting resources from asteroids. Researchers are taking a closer look at asteroids ...

In a scientific first, astronomers have witnessed two objects violently colliding in space, the impact generating a dusty debris cloud reminiscent of cosmic fireworks. The collision occurred 25 ...

Scientists are digging into the hidden makeup of carbon-rich asteroids to see whether they could one day fuel space exploration—or even be mined for valuable resources. By analyzing rare meteorites ...

JWST imaged 2024 YR4 in late March, making it the smallest object the telescope had imaged to date. The data its instruments collected indicate that based on the amount of heat it gives off, 2024 YR4 ...

Asteroids contain large quantities of both precious and common metals, and despite the obvious challenges in reaching them, a few startups say these celestial bodies could offer a sustainable ...

Richard Binzel has been watching the skies for hazardous asteroids for more than 50 years. In 1995, he proposed the Near-Earth Object Hazard Index, later renamed the Torino scale, which rates ...

Amy Mainzer likes to quote a mentor who taught her the three basic steps to prevent asteroids from crashing into Earth: “Find them early, find them early, and find them early.” “We can't do anything ...

Some asteroids are more dangerous than others, according to a report issued this week in Nature Astronomy by an international team of researchers, led by astrophysicist Auriane Egal of the Montreal ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Asteroids may be wondrous windows into the history of the cosmos ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — New results from OSIRIS-REx, NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, reveals why some gray asteroids reflect light at different wavelengths, like red or blue, more strongly ...