asteroid – Page 5 – Astronomy Now

See Earth-crossing asteroid Icarus in closest approach for 75 years

15 June 2015 Ade Ashford

For over half a century, Apollo asteroid 1566 Icarus held the record for the minor planet that passed closest to the Sun. From 16th-22nd June you can see this one-kilometre-wide space rock in backyard telescopes as it makes its closest pass to our planet until 2090.

Dawn spacecraft prepares to image dwarf planet Ceres in detail

7 April 2015 Astronomy Now

One month after its capture into orbit around Ceres, NASA engineers working on the Dawn mission state that the spacecraft is performing flawlessly and about to start capturing optical navigation images on April 10th.

Chiron may be second minor planet to possess Saturn-like rings

17 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Five bodies in our Solar System are known to bear rings — Saturn, and to a lesser extent, rings of gas and dust also encircle Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune; then Chariklo was added this haloed group last year, one of a class of minor planets called centaurs — now the progenitor of the centaurs, Chiron, most likely has rings too.

Boldly gone, but we can still see your asteroid, Mr. Spock

13 March 2015 Ade Ashford

As a nice way to celebrate the memory of the late Leonard Nimoy, over the coming week astrophotographers have a chance to image the 13-mile-wide minor planet named after Mr. Spock, the Star Trek character he shall always be most closely associated with.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft becomes the first to orbit a dwarf planet

6 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet. Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometres) and 7.5 years, NASA/s Dawn spacecraft calls Ceres home.

How to prevent another Chelyabinsk

14 February 2015 Keith Cooper

The Chelyabinsk event two years ago heightened public awareness of the threat posed to humanity by an asteroid strike, but what can be done to prevent it happening again? The forthcoming Sentinel Space Telescope and ATLAS Project will hopefully prevent us being caught off guard.

See asteroid 2004 BL86 whizz by Earth

17 January 2015 Ade Ashford

Asteroid 2004 BL86 skims past Earth at a distance of just three times the Moon on the evening of 26th January. When best placed, it will become bright enough to see from the UK with small telescopes or large binoculars. Here’s our hour-by-hour observing guide.

Hayabusa 2 launches on audacious asteroid adventure

3 December 2014 Stephen Clark

A Japanese H-2A launcher blasted off from an idyllic island spaceport Tuesday, dispatching a daring six-year expedition to bring a piece of an asteroid back to Earth.

US-UK press conference declaration calls for awareness of dangerous asteroids

2 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Experts and luminaries in science, business and entertainment will assemble at simultaneous press conferences in San Francisco & London on 3rd December to officially unveil Asteroid Day 2015, a global day of public awareness about asteroids and the threat they pose to humanity.

Dawn spacecraft’s geological maps of asteroid Vesta

25 November 2014 Astronomy Now

Launched in 2007, Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft orbited and surveyed large asteroid Vesta between July 2011 and September 2012. This detailed map is the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year geological mapping campaign.