Astronomers have traced the origin of asteroid 2024 YR4, which appears to have broken off from a larger space rock. A newly discovered asteroid is on track for a close brush with Earth—and it might even slam into the Moon. Recently, astronomers got a closer look at the giant space rock, revealing its violent origin […]
Asteroid Mining Startup Loses Its Spacecraft Somewhere Beyond the Moon
A privately built spacecraft is tumbling aimlessly in deep space, with little hope of being able to contact its home planet. Odin is around 270,000 miles (434,522 kilometers) away from Earth, on a silent journey that’s going nowhere fast. California-based startup AstroForge launched its Odin spacecraft on February 26 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. […]
NASA Makes Big Update to Asteroid Potentially on Collision Course With Earth in 2032
The potentially hazardous asteroid 2024 YR4 caused consternation over the last few weeks as its odds of hitting Earth in 2032 dramatically rose. Now, those odds have plummeted to near-zero, as astronomers’ calculations of the asteroid’s path have been updated to indicate that Earth is almost certainly not in the space rock’s plans. Almost. According […]
Odds of Asteroid Hitting Earth in 2032 Climb Again as Impact Probability Hits New Peak
2024 YR4 first caught astronomers’ eyes on December 27, 2024, and was marked as an asteroid that may hit Earth in eight years’ time. Now, the asteroid’s impact odds have reached their highest likelihood yet. The asteroid has a 1-in-32 chance of hitting Earth in 2032, according to the latest (and constantly updated) odds from […]
Here’s What Would Happen If Asteroid Bennu Hit Earth
On September 24, 2182, a relatively large space rock has a 0.037% chance of crashing onto the surface of Earth. Although the chances of impact are slim, Bennu is still one of the most potentially hazardous known asteroids in our solar system, and we need to be prepared for what could come. A first-of-its-kind study […]
An Asteroid Has a 1-in-63 Chance of Hitting Earth in 2032—Here’s What That Means
Odds are a funny thing. 1-in-100, for example, sounds like a long shot—until you find out it’s the chance that an asteroid will impact Earth. In a surprising—but not definitive—turn of events, early warning systems this week found that an asteroid set to swing by Earth in 2032 has a 1-in-63 chance of smashing into […]
Briny Residue Scooped From Asteroid Bennu Holds Clues to Life’s Cosmic Origins
Asteroid Bennu not only held water at some point in its distant past but also contains briny residue that harbors some of the crucial building blocks for life, according to a team of scientists that studied samples of the space rock. The brine contains compounds that have never been previously observed in asteroid samples, including […]
New Asteroid Tops NASA’s Impact Risk Chart, 1.2% Chance of 2032 Collision
2024 YR4 is a newly spotted asteroid with the potential to hit Earth—and its chances of smashing into our planet in 2032 is definitely more than zero. I realize that “definitely more than zero” will cause some disquiet in the comments, so to be specific: There is a 1.2% chance the asteroid hits Earth based […]