Scientists have reconstructed an asteroid that hit Earth 3.26 billion years ago. The graphic above compares it to the to the size of the asteroid thought to have killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The ancient asteroid dwarfs both … Continue reading
NASA released this animation of a mission to capture a boulder from the surface of an asteroid. A NASA spacecraft, called an asteroid redirect vehicle, would use robotic arms to pluck a 3-meter boulder off the asteroid. The spacecraft would … Continue reading
A small asteroid, designated MPEC 2013 PS13 and first detected on August 4, is scheduled to pass within 0.52 Lunar Distance of the surface of Earth on Friday, August 9, 2013. Not many get that close. The Minor Planet Center … Continue reading
Several of my short stories have featured modified asteroids as useful structures, predominantly in Trojan Orbits. But the first asteroids that are likely to have a tremendous impact on humanity (good or bad) are the “near-Earth” asteroids–those bodies that orbit … Continue reading
Asteroid 2012 DA14, as previously discussed, passed record-close to Earth last month. On the same day a more news-grabbing, but smaller asteroid, the Chelyabinsk Meteroid, plunged into Earth’s atmosphere and streaked and exploded over Russia. 2012 DA14 was captured in … Continue reading
Most communications satellites circle the Earth in the Clarke Belt–i.e., in Geostationary Orbit 22,236 miles above Earth (about 1/10th the distance to the Moon). At that height, a satellite can orbit at a speed that matches Earth’s rotation, allowing the … Continue reading
Discovered just yesterday, Asteroid 2012 XE54 will pass Earth tonight and in the early morning tomorrow. Its discovery is reported in the Minor Planet Center’s Minor Planet Electronic Circular 2012-X37. At its closest, it is now anticipated to be a … Continue reading
Two asteroids will pass through the neighborhood of Earth in the next several days. The smallest, 2009 BS5, at 15 meters, will close in at 8.4 Lunar Distance (8.4 x the average distance from Earth to Moon) on December 11. … Continue reading
ANOTHER WRONG WORLD And Other Off Beat Tales at AMAZON $2.99
J. C. Conway 