Japan team finds traces of one of largest craters in solar system
A Japanese research team has announced the discovery of traces of the largest impact craters in the solar system on a moon of Jupiter. The group from Kobe University and National Institute of Technology, Oshima College analyzed images of Ganymede's surface taken by the Voyager ...
Two teenage girls from India have discovered an Earth-bound asteroid by poring through images from a University of Hawaii telescope, an Indian space education institute said on Monday. The asteroid is presently near Mars and its orbit is expected to cross that of Earth in ...
Hayabusa2 probe to drop Ryugu asteroid capsule on Earth on Dec. 6
The capsule is set to fall onto a desert in southern Australia using a parachute after entering the atmosphere at a speed of 12 kilometers per second.
Japan's Hayabusa2 on homeward journey with main engines activated
Japan's space agency said Tuesday its Hayabusa2 probe is now homeward bound after activating its main engines following completion of its mission to collect samples from an asteroid. The probe is scheduled to travel around 800 million kilometers to deliver the samples from the Ryugu ...
Team of Japanese and South Korean researchers to observe asteroid using Hokkaido telescope
A team of Japanese and South Korean researchers will start observing the Ryugu asteroid using a special telescope in Hokkaido from next fall, in hopes of gaining an understanding of how asteroids are formed, a team member said Monday. Japan's Hayabusa2 probe recently completed a ...
NASA renames faraway ice world Arrokoth after backlash over Ultima Thule moniker
Ultima Thule, the farthest cosmic body ever visited by a spacecraft, has been officially renamed Arrokoth, or "sky" in the Native American Powhatan and Algonquian languages, following a significant backlash over the old name's Nazi connotations. The icy rock, which orbits in the dark and ...
Robotic explorer to orbit Ryugu asteroid in final mission for Japan's Hayabusa2
The Hayabusa2 on Thursday released a robotic explorer bound for the surface of an asteroid in the probe's final task before returning to earth, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. The Minerva-II2, a small rover attached to Hayabusa2, began its descent toward the surface ...
Asteroid images from probe dropped off by Hayabusa offer clues on planet formation
Photographs snapped by a shoebox-sized probe that explored the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu offer new clues about its composition — insights that are expected to help scientists understand the formation of our solar system. The German-French Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) was dropped off by Japan's ...
Scientists conclude cigar-shaped interstellar object isn't alien spaceship
After investigating the nature of a mysterious and apparently cigar-shaped object called 'Oumuamua spotted in 2017 speeding through our solar system, astronomers remain uncertain over how to classify it, but are confident it is not an alien spaceship. Its odd shape and motion had prompted ...
JAXA finds 10 more artificial craters made on Ryugu asteroid by Japan's Hayabusa2 probe
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Thursday that 10 smaller, man-made craters had been found on an asteroid in addition to the larger crater its Hayabusa2 space probe produced last month as part of its mission to gain insight into the origin of life ...
NASA unveils program aimed at preventing an asteroid apocalypse
Among Earth's natural disasters, the one humans probably ponder least is asteroids, huge objects zipping through our solar system at ludicrous speeds. An asteroid or comet collision is, NASA officials say, "low-probability but high-consequence" — it will probably never happen, but if it does we're ...
A recently discovered asteroid zipped within 39,000 miles (64,000 km) of Earth on Friday, the second space rock to pass within the orbit of the moon during the week, according to NASA scientists. Measuring between 50 and 130 feet (15 and 40 meters) across, the ...
