Asteroids – Slugger O'Toole

Dawn over Ceres

Pete Baker on March 8, 2015, 7:16 pm | Readers 399

On Friday afternoon [GMT], ahead of Ireland cricketers’ epic encounter with Zimbabwe, Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft became the first man-made object to go into orbit around a dwarf planet – Ceres, at 950km across, the largest object in the main asteroid belt. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] From the associated text The slim crescent of Ceres smiles back as the dwarf planet awaits the arrival of an emissary from Earth. This image was taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on March 1, 2015, just a few …

“It was a meteor strike–the most powerful since the Tunguska event of 1908”

Pete Baker on February 27, 2013, 4:33 pm | Readers 92

ScienceAtNasa has a sobering video on the latest information about the visitation by the god Ogdy unexpected meteor strike in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia on 15 February. Video credit: ScienceAtNasa. From the accompanying ScienceAtNasa press release The Russian meteor’s infrasound signal was was the strongest ever detected by the CTBTO network. The furthest station to record the sub-audible sound was 15,000km away in Antarctica. Western Ontario Professor of Physics Peter Brown analyzed the data: “The asteroid was about 17 meters in diameter and weighed approximately …

“President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.”

Pete Baker on February 15, 2013, 5:36 pm | Readers 65

As I mentioned previously, asteroid 2012 DA14 is due to make its close encounter with Earth later this evening. Meanwhile, earlier today several hundred people in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia were injured during a visitation by the god Ogdy by debris caused by the unexpected appearance of a relatively large meteor. It’s reported that a crater 6m (20ft) wide has been found on the shore of a lake 1km outside Chebarkul, a town in the region – created by a fragment of the meteor. …

“comets are like cats: they have tails, and do whatever they want to do”

Pete Baker on January 1, 2013, 11:25 pm | Readers 112

In the BBC’s science news preview of 2013, reporter Jason Palmer highlights a couple of astronomical events worth keeping an eye out for. In mid-February we will get another reminder we live in a (potentially) violent cosmos – asteroid 2012 DA14 will make a harmless but attention-grabbing pass near the Earth, at a distance just a tenth that of the Moon. Exactly what happens then will determine how near the asteroid’s next pass will be, in 2026. (Don’t worry, signs are pretty …

Jupiter swallows an asteroid – redux

Pete Baker on September 13, 2012, 4:43 pm | Readers 47

As Space Weather notes Around the world, amateur astronomers have been scanning the cloudtops of Jupiter for signs of debris from an explosion witnessed by Dan Peterson and George Hall on Sept. 10th. So far the cloud layer is blank. “Several observers have now obtained excellent images on the second and third rotations after the fireball, and there is nothing new nor distinctive at the impact site,” reports John H. Rogers, director of the Jupiter Section of the British Astronomical …

“Thrust is engaged, and we are now climbing away from Vesta atop a blue-green pillar of xenon ions”

Pete Baker on August 30, 2012, 8:18 pm | Readers 53

Having arrived at the 530km-wide giant asteroid Vesta in July 2011, in May this year Nasa’s Dawn Mission scientists published some of their findings. Now Dawn’s ready to head out on the next leg of its journey – Destination [the even larger protoplanet (dwarf planet)] Ceres, ETA 2015. From the JPL press release “Thrust is engaged, and we are now climbing away from Vesta atop a blue-green pillar of xenon ions,” said Marc Rayman, Dawn’s chief engineer and mission director, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, …

“Vesta is special”

Pete Baker on May 13, 2012, 7:54 pm | Readers 15

Having arrived at the 530km-wide giant asteroid Vesta in July last year, Nasa’s Dawn Mission scientists have published some of their findings in Science magazine. As the BBC’s spaceman, Jonathan Amos, notes They confirm that Vesta has a layered interior with a metal-rich core, just as Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury do. Using information about the shape of the asteroid and its gravity field, scientists can even say something about the likely size of this core. The Dawn team calculates …

“An aircraft carrier-sized asteroid will make a safe, close flyby of Earth…”

Pete Baker on November 8, 2011, 3:03 pm | Readers 3

If the calculations are correct, the 400m-wide asteroid 2005 YU55 will make a safe, close flyby of Earth at around half past eleven tonight (11.28pm GMT). [If?! – Ed] If not, we’ll have a wondrous new scar to boast about! Radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 obtained on Nov. 7, 2011, at 11:45 a.m. PST (2:45 p.m. EST/1945 UTC), when the asteroid was at 3.6 lunar distances, which is about 860,000 miles, or 1.38 million kilometers, from Earth. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech] And with its …

Of proto- [and exo-] planets. And falling satellites…

Pete Baker on September 18, 2011, 7:39 pm | Readers 7

Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft remains in orbit around the 530km-wide proto-planet Vesta – the second most massive object in the main asteroid belt. And they’ve released this cool video constructed from the images they’ve obtained so far. Via JPLnews Here’s an image of the south pole of Vesta from a distance of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] And speaking of exo-planets, scientists using the orbiting Kepler observatory have identifed the first circumbinary planet, the first planet known to definitively orbit two …

Vesta’s dark side [and possibly a colourful one]

Pete Baker on August 1, 2011, 4:32 pm | Readers 3

As the BBC spaceman, Jonathon Amos, notes Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft has taken a close look at the 530 km wide giant asteroid Vesta’s northern hemisphere– to add to all those earlier images. This image was taken on 23 July, at a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers) away from the proto planet Vesta. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. And in a short while, 1700 UT [6pm BST], Nasa will be holding a press conference to present the latest findings. Which may include some colour …

Vesta: “arguably the oldest extant primordial surface in the Solar System”

Pete Baker on July 19, 2011, 3:32 pm | Readers 9

With Dawn now safely in orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta, Nasa have released the first close-up image of the ancient protoplanet. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] From the accompanying text July 18, 2011 – PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on July 17, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 9,500 miles (15,000 kilometers) away from the protoplanet Vesta. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 0.88 miles (1.4 kilometers). And from the …

Dawn’s final approach

Pete Baker on July 9, 2011, 6:21 pm | Readers 1

Next weekend (on 16 July), barring any further unforeseen problems, Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft will enter orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta and begin its year-long observation of the 530km wide proto-planet. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] From the JPL press release (23 June) After Dawn enters Vesta’s orbit, engineers will need a few days to determine the exact time of capture. Unlike other missions where a dramatic, nail-biting propulsive burn results in orbit insertion around a planet, Dawn has been using its placid ion propulsion …

“this is probably the biggest known asteroid to have come this close.”

Pete Baker on June 27, 2011, 5:35 pm | Readers 2

As spotted by SpaceWeather. At about 1700 UT (6pm BST) today Asteroid 2011MD will fly past only 12,300 kilometers (7,600 miles) above the Earth’s surface. [Image credit NASA/JPL] As the diagram shows, that’s close enough to be affected by Earth’s gravity. This small asteroid, only 5-20 meters in diameter, is in a very Earth-like orbit about the Sun, but an orbital analysis indicates there is no chance it will actually strike Earth on Monday. The incoming trajectory leg passes several thousand kilometers …

Destination: Vesta!

Pete Baker on June 14, 2011, 7:57 pm | Readers 4

Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft will arrive at the 530km wide asteroid Vesta on 16 July, where it will spend the next 12 months in orbit. Then it’s on to the dwarf planet, Ceres [950km wide]. Images Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. The Hubble Space Telescope has already taken a look at Vesta but, on 1 June, Dawn captured its own views – at a distance of about 480,000km – to assist in the final navigation stage. And Nasa have released those looped images as a video. From the JPL Nasa press …

“on the timescales involved in this event, we’re really catching it in the moment of happening”

Pete Baker on October 13, 2010, 10:09 pm | Readers 10

When the comet-like asteroid P/2010 A2 was identified as a suspected asteroid-asteroid collision in January this year it was the first such collision caught “in the act”. Images Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA). As the BBC notes, subsequent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Rosetta probe suggest that the collision probably occurred in early 2009. Here’s a sequence of Hubble observations from January to May 2010, with scale. As the associated text explains The asteroid debris, dubbed P/2010 A2, appears to be …

Let’s be careful out there!

Pete Baker on August 30, 2010, 4:24 pm | Readers 2

Here’s a fun video to consider, via Spaceweather.com. It shows the map of the solar system updating from 1980 to present as more asteroids are discovered. As Spaceweather notes Warning: Feelings of claustrophobia have been reported among some viewers. It’s crowded out there! New discoveries appear in white. Final colour indicates how close the asteroid comes to the inner solar system – Earth crossers in red, Earth approachers (perihelion less than 1.3AU) in yellow, and all others in green. Orbital elements from database …

Vesta awaits!

Pete Baker on August 19, 2010, 11:40 pm | Readers 1

Nasa previews the Dawn mission’s visitation with the asteroid Vesta, due next year as noted here, with a video presentation narrated by Leonard Nimoy – as opposed to the previously noted video narrated by William Shatner. Whether the encounter will be as stunning as that of the Rosetta probe was remains to be seen… The Dawn mission website is here. More Dawn related videos and interviews here. Pete Baker

Asteroids Rock! – redux – Updated

Pete Baker on July 10, 2010, 3:12 pm | Readers 10

[Updated with images from the fly past] Japan’s Hayabusa probe looks like it might have successfully returned material from the asteroid Itokawa, if not as much as they had hoped. Meanwhile Esa’s Rosetta probe, last seen [on Slugger] in 2008, is taking time out from its mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to take a look at the asteroid Lutetia. Artist’s impression of Lutetia. Image credits: ESA – C. Carreau. At 4.44pm [BST] today Rosetta will fly past the 100km wide Lutetia …

“Asteroids Rock!”

Pete Baker on June 14, 2010, 4:52 pm | Readers 4

As the BBC notes, Japanese scientists are confident they have successfully retrieved the first samples ever grabbed from the surface of an asteroid, Itokawa, after recovering a capsule from the Hayabusa spacecraft in the Australian outback. The Japanese space agency (Jaxa) says the capsule looks to be intact. The return was the culmination of a remarkable seven-year adventure, which saw Hayabusa visit asteroid Itokawa in 2005 and attempt to pluck dust from its surface before firing its engines for home. The …