Earth’s ‘quasi-moon’ probably rocketed away from the actual moon relatively recently in the solar system’s history, a new study suggests. Kamo’oalewa, a 131- to 328-foot-wide (40 to 100 meters) Near Earth Object (NEO), was liberated between 1 million and 10 million years ago by an asteroid impact, an impact that destroyed the 13.7-mile-wide ( 22 … Read more
Ground-based radar systems could play a unique role in planetary defense, helping humanity protect Earth by spotting asteroids and comets on potentially devastating collision courses with our planet. This was the conclusion of the National Academies in their 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. Currently, only one radar system on Earth focuses on detecting … Read more
Scientists have discovered that the target asteroid of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) may have been reshaped by the impact. A new study of the aftermath of the collision revealed that the asteroid, the smaller part of a binary asteroid system, exhibits a loose “mess” composition. On September 26, 2023, DART collided with the … Read more