The green glow of an aurora is caused by oxygen ions in the upper atmosphere. Some meteors can glow in this way, too, but only if they are extremely fast.
Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland e Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria Research Institute
Earth is moving through a bit of space where three streams of debris intersect with our orbit. These streams will give birth to the stars of this weekend’s show.
By tracking a meteorite found in Morocco back to its origin in an asteroid crater on Mars millions of years ago, scientists can learn more about how the planets formed.
This image shows meteors that skimmed the atmosphere during just one night in March this year.
When the meteor exploded into pieces above New Zealand, it produced a shock wave strong enough to be picked up by earthquake seismometers. But any fragments have likely dropped into the ocean.
Take note, future colonisers: you may be able to grow stuff in certain places on the Moon.
An Eta Aquariid meteor (centre) along with comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) in the background, photographed during the 2020 Eta Aquariid shower.
Photo by Jonti Horner
Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland e Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria Research Institute
Each year, the Earth runs through a broad river of dust surrounding Comet Halley – giving birth to the spectacular Eta Aquariid meteor shower.
Scientists hunt for meteorites on the Nansen blue ice area in East Antartica, close to the Belgian Antarctic research station Princess Elisabeth.
BELARE 2019-2020 meteorite recovery expedition on the Nansen Ice Field
Scientists have crafted the world’s first “treasure map” to reveal Antarctica’s meteorites. These chunks of stone-like material could throw light on the mysteries of our early solar system.
The Hayabusa2 mission brought a piece of asteroid Ryugu back to Earth, where it has helped scientists resolve a long-standing puzzle.
An illustration shows how, about 65 million years ago, a large asteroid collided with Earth. It hit what is today Mexico and created the Chicxulub crater.
Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
You might think lots of meteorites ultimately come from comets. Turns out, you’d be wrong, according to a new study that tracked meteors hurtling through the sky to find out where they came from.
The fireball.
Ben Stanley, processed by Markus Kempf, the AllSky7 network
It looks like a broken barbeque brickette, but the newfound meteorite is a capsule of the Solar System’s history that could reveal the secrets of the origin of life.
Asteroid 2018 VP1 itself is too small and far away to see clearly, so here’s an artist’s impression of a near-Earth object.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
A small asteroid will cross Earth’s orbit on November 2. Scientists aren’t sure if the two will collide – but even if they do, there’s still no cause for alarm.
Artist’s rendition of NASA’s 2020 Mars rover collecting rocks with its robotic arm.
NASA
Martian meteorites allow scientists here on Earth to decode that planet’s geology, more than a decade before the first missions are scheduled to bring rocks back home from Mars.
Surface detail of the Tomanowos meteorite, showing cavities produced by dissolution of iron.
Eden, Janine and Jim/Wikipedia
Tomanowos, aka the Willamette Meteorite, may be the world’s most interesting rock. Its story includes catastrophic ice age floods, theft of Native American cultural heritage and plenty of human folly.
Much of Mars’s surface is covered by fine-grained materials that hide the bedrock. The above bedrock is mostly exposed and it is in these areas that micrometeorites likely to accumulate.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
It’s established Mars was once a planet with surface-level water. So with multiple MARS missions starting next year, the key to seeking out martian life may instead lie in the contents of its ‘dust’.
Near-Earth asteroids such as Bennu, and 2019 OK which passed close to Earth this week, pose a potential threat to our planet.
NASA
A 100-metre-wide asteroid passed just 70,000km from Earth on Thursday, and we had little warning it was about to happen. What threat is posed by asteroids and how do we find them?
Every day about 50 tons of rocks from space fall on Earth. An examination of these meteorites has inspired a new theory about how exactly these rocks formed.