Millions of asteroids of all shapes and sizes are littered throughout the inner solar system. In the past three decades, scientists have spotted as many as 500,000 but many more remain unseen. Many of…
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Articles on Asteroids
Displaying 121 - 140 of 142 articles
Earth was still a violent place shortly after life began, with regular impactors arriving from space. For the first time, scientists have modelled the effects of one such violent event – the strike of…
In a surprise discovery two rings have been found around the remote asteroid Chariklo, which lies more than a billion kilometres from Earth. This is the first time rings have been discovered around an…
Comet ISON’s fate has left many sad. For the public, the comet could have made for a spectacular view in December. For scientists, it would have been a chance to learn more about these mysterious bodies…
When you clean your house you are probably vacuuming up space dust. Not kidding. It is the same dust that was once part of comets and asteroids. You see that dust in the faint glow it helps create before…
Three studies have revealed details of the meteor that exploded above Russian city, Chelyabinsk, in February this year. Their findings, published today in a pair of papers in Nature and one in Science…
How will future alien scientists know whether life existed in our solar system? One method may be to sift through the planetary debris left when our sun becomes a white dwarf. Astronomers are doing just…
One of the most exciting things about science is the detective work, and never was this more the case than Friday. Within an hour or so of the event, almost everyone had seen the dramatic footage of the…
A fireball has flown over Russia, delivering a sonic boom with enough force to shatter windows, amateur footage shows. The astronomical event comes just one day before a large asteroid is expected to pass…
An asteroid measuring up to 20km across hit South Australia up to 360 million years ago and left behind the one of the largest asteroid impact zones on Earth, according to new research published today…
An asteroid named 2012 DA14 will come within 27,700 kilometres of Earth early on Saturday morning Australian time (around 6:30am AEDT). At this distance the asteroid will pass within the orbits of several…
An asteroid expected to hurtle past Earth next week will fly within range of communication satellites but will not hit the planet, experts said today. Known as 2012 DA14, the asteroid is around 45m in…
The prospect of people settling away from Earth has been a topic for dreamers and visionaries for some time. But if it’s ever to happen for real, there needs to be more than starry-eyed optimism. There…
The presence, size and location of an asteroid belt may determine if life can evolve on an Earth-like planet. If this is…
How many times have you read a headline about our impending doom due to a “Deep Impact”-style annihilation? In a way it’s not surprising – we have an insatiable appetite for disaster stories, a hunger…
There will be a future mining boom, as heralded in recent media stories. But this mining will take place in a location even more hostile than the Australian Outback – space. More specifically, the ore…
Earth went through a heavy asteroid bombardment as changes in the solar system flung asteroids from the belt between Mars…
Images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft have revealed unusual geological features on the surface of the asteroid Vesta, one of…
A NASA spacecraft called Dawn has delivered fresh images of an enormous asteroid called Vesta, revealing new detail about the giant object’s turbulent past. A video made up of images collected as Dawn…
Early results from analysis of dust on the Hayabusa space capsule, which landed in South Australia last year have revealed…
Top contributors
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria, and Honorary Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Web and database guy, Macquarie University
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Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University
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John Curtin Distinguished Professor (Radio Astronomy), Curtin University
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Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland
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Director, Space Science and Technology Centre, Curtin University
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Alan Duffy is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute, Swinburne University of Technology
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Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Bristol
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Associate Professor, Curtin University
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Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
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Program Manager / Adjunct Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology
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Research Associate, The Open University
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Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University
