After the bright sungrazing comet discovered on January 02, 2010 on images taken by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft, a new comet is plunging toward the sun. On first looking this comet is ~1-1.5 mag fainter than the previous one from early January.
AU circular No. 9107, issued on 2010, Jan. 14, announces the discovery by G. J. Garradd of an apparently asteroidal object, on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope in the course of the Siding Spring Survey.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought that the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never been seen before.
The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, which wiped out the dinosaurs and more than half of species on Earth, was caused by an asteroid colliding with Earth and not massive volcanic activity, according to a comprehensive review of all the available evidence." id="metasummary
IAU circular No. 9134, issued on 2010, April 11, announces the discovery by R. E. Hill of a new comet on Apr. 10, 2010, in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey.
The newly discovered object, officially designated 2011 CQ1, will make a close Earth approach today February 04, 2011 around 19:40UT at ~0.03(LD)/0.00008(AU) or 11855 km.
In the past few days a number of faint objects discovered by Pan-STARRS (PS1 System - Haleakala - mpc code F51) have been added to the Neo Confirmation Page on the MPC website.
During a presentation on Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Puerto Rico, Knight and colleague, David Schleicher, Lowell Observatory astronomer, described their research, Narrowband Observations of Comet Lulin (2007 N3).
Lowell astronomer David Schleicher led a team that made the best measurement of the comet's rotation period, showing that the rotation period of Tempel 2's nucleus has lengthened, or the comet has slowed down, by about 10 seconds every five years.
Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036.
At 9:03 pm on Friday night September 25, 2009 (01:03 UT Sept 26) seven all-sky cameras of Western's Southern Ontario Meteor Network (SOMN) recorded a brilliant fireball in the evening sky over the west end of Lake Ontario.
Astronomers say they have found a meteorite fragment the size of a golf ball near Hamilton, which they believe streaked across the night sky above Southern Ontario in late September.