Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- transportation:comets [2025/09/21 22:53] – [2024 YR4] timb
+++ transportation:comets [2026/03/17 21:18] (current) – [Ryugu] timb
@@ Line 536: / Line 536: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/an-asteroid-could-smash-into-the-moon-in-2032-heres-why-we-should-destroy-it-2000661550
+== Asteroid 2024 YR4 Has a 4% Chance of Hitting the Moon ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday January 28, 2026 02:00AM
+An anonymous reader quotes a report from Universe Today:
+<blockquote>
+There's a bright side to every situation. In 2032, the Moon itself might have a particularly bright side if it is blasted by a 60-meter-wide asteroid. The chances of such an event are still relatively small (only around 4%), but non-negligible. And scientists are starting to prepare both for the bad (massive risks to satellites and huge meteors raining down on a large portion of the planet) and the good (a once in a lifetime chance to study the geology, seismology, and chemical makeup of our nearest neighbor). A new paper from Yifan He of Tsinghua University and co-authors, released in pre-print form on arXiv, looks at the bright side of all of the potential interesting science we can do if a collision does, indeed, happen.
+</blockquote>
+If Asteroid 2024 YR4 were to hit the Moon, researchers would be able to watch a large lunar impact unfold in real time and collect data on extreme collisions that usually exist only in computer models. Telescopes could follow how a newly formed crater and its pool of molten rock cool and solidify, while the resulting moonquake would offer a clearer picture of its internal structure via the seismic waves it sends through the Moon.
+https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/01/28/0522257/asteroid-2024-yr4-has-a-4-chance-of-hitting-the-moon
+== Asteroid 2024 YR4 Will Not Impact the Moon ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Friday March 06, 2026 11:00PM
+Ancient Slashdot reader alanw shares a report from the European Space Agency (ESA):
+<blockquote>
+Last year, an approximately 60 meter near-Earth object captured global attention. For a brief period, asteroid 2024 YR4 became the most dangerous asteroid discovered in the last 20 years. While an Earth impact was soon ruled out, the asteroid faded from view with a lingering 4% chance of striking the Moon on 22 December 2032. Now, that risk has been eliminated. Astronomers have confirmed that 2024 YR4 will not impact the Moon using new observations made by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Instead, it will safely pass the Moon at a distance of more than 20 000 km.
+</blockquote>
+https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/07/0028222/asteroid-2024-yr4-will-not-impact-the-moon
@@ Line 868: / Line 892: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/rare-asteroid-sample-contaminated-by-microorganisms-despite-scientists-best-efforts-2000528691
+== Everything needed to make DNA and RNA found in asteroid sample ==
+Results from Ryugu suggest the the Solar System produced the building blocks of life
+Simon Sharwood - Tue 17 Mar 2026 06:29 UTC
+Scientists have found that all five of the substances that make up DNA and RNA in samples from Ryugu, the asteroid Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency visited in 2020.
+As outlined in a paper titled “A complete set of canonical nucleobases in the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu” that appeared in the journal Nature Astronomy this week, analysis of samples from Ryugu turned up “all five canonical nucleobases – purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine and uracil).”
+That matters because “The purines adenine and guanine and the pyrimidines cytosine, uracil and thymine constitute the base sequences of DNA and RNA that encode and transmit genetic information.”
+And they were all floating around in an orbit between Earth and Mars.
+“This implies that the molecular prerequisites for life are not unique to Earth and may emerge as natural products of chemical evolution throughout the Solar System,” the paper states.
+There’s more: “Nucleobases could have been delivered to the early Earth, potentially contributing to the molecular inventory necessary for life,” the paper argues. “Furthermore, elucidating the formation mechanisms of extraterrestrial nucleobases helps to constrain the universal physicochemical conditions under which they can form abiotically, thus linking astrochemical processes in interstellar and planetary environments to the chemical evolution that preceded the origin of life.”
+https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/17/everything_needed_to_make_dna/
+===== Venus =====
+== Undetected, Dangerous Asteroids Could Be Lurking in Venus’s Orbit ==
+A new study warns of an undiscovered population of asteroids that could strike Earth with little to no warning.
+Passant Rabie - September 26, 2025
+Space can be a dangerous place, with massive rocks hurling through the solar system at fast speeds, some of which may be headed in our direction. NASA and other agencies keep a close watch on the skies, on the lookout for potentially hazardous asteroids that threaten Earth. As it turns out, however, a unique group of potentially problematic asteroids may be hiding in plain sight.
+A group of researchers are warning of the potential threat of asteroids that share the orbit of Venus, circling the Sun at a close distance to Earth—but they’re practically invisible to our current observational tactics. In a recent study published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, scientists reveal a population of potentially dangerous asteroids, which would appear in telescopic observations around two weeks before a potential impact on Earth.
+https://gizmodo.com/undetected-dangerous-asteroids-could-be-lurking-in-venuss-orbit-2000664077
@@ Line 1120: / Line 1177: @@
 https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-asteroid-bennu-sample-reveals-mix-of-lifes-ingredients/
+== Sugars, ‘Gum,’ Stardust Found in NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples ==
+Abby Tabor & Aaron L. Gronstal & Erin Morton & Rachel Barry - Dec 02, 2025
+The asteroid Bennu continues to provide new clues to scientists’ biggest questions about the formation of the early solar system and the origins of life. As part of the ongoing study of pristine samples delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft, three new papers published Tuesday by the journals Nature Geosciences and Nature Astronomy present remarkable discoveries: sugars essential for biology, a gum-like substance not seen before in astromaterials, and an unexpectedly high abundance of dust produced by supernova explosions.
+Sugars essential to life
+Scientists led by Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University in Japan found sugars essential for biology on Earth in the Bennu samples, detailing their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience. The five-carbon sugar ribose and, for the first time in an extraterrestrial sample, six-carbon glucose were found. Although these sugars are not evidence of life, their detection, along with previous detections of amino acids, nucleobases, and carboxylic acids in Bennu samples, show building blocks of biological molecules were widespread throughout the solar system.
+For life on Earth, the sugars deoxyribose and ribose are key building blocks of DNA and RNA, respectively. DNA is the primary carrier of genetic information in cells. RNA performs numerous functions, and life as we know it could not exist without it. Ribose in RNA is used in the molecule’s sugar-phosphate “backbone” that connects a string of information-carrying nucleobases.
+https://www.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/sugars-gum-stardust-found-in-nasas-asteroid-bennu-samples/
+== Sugars, 'Gum,' Stardust Found In NASA's Asteroid Bennu Samples ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Thursday December 04, 2025 11:07PM
+NASA's OSIRIS-REx samples from asteroid Bennu have revealed bio-essential sugars, a never-before-seen "space gum" polymer, and unusually high levels of supernova-origin dust. The findings bolster the RNA-world hypothesis, suggest complex organics formed early on Bennu's parent body, and show preserved presolar grains that escaped alteration for billions of years.
+"All five nucleobases used to construct both DNA and RNA, along with phosphates, have already been found in the Bennu samples brought to Earth by OSIRIS-REx," said lead scientist Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University. "The new discovery of ribose means that all of the components to form the molecule RNA are present in Bennu."
+The findings have been published in three new papers by the journals Nature Geosciences and Nature Astronomy. NASA also published a video on YouTube detailing the discovery.
+https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/04/2237242/sugars-gum-stardust-found-in-nasas-asteroid-bennu-samples
@@ Line 1262: / Line 1343: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/comet-a3-could-be-the-years-brightest-heres-how-to-see-it-2000502090
+====== Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) ======
+== Newly Discovered Comet Could Appear During the Day—If It’s Not Destroyed First ==
+Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) is set for a dangerous brush with our star.
+Passant Rabie - March 12, 2026
+A recently discovered comet is plunging toward a fateful encounter with the Sun, which will determine whether it puts on a spectacular showing during the daylight or if it completely disintegrates into nothingness.
+Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) is set for its perihelion, closest approach to the Sun, on April 4, when it will come within 99,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) from our host star, according to Space.com. That’s incredibly close on a cosmic scale, and there’s a possibility that the comet may be torn apart by the Sun’s gravitational force or destroyed by the star’s heat. If it does survive, however, the comet could shine as bright as Venus in the evening twilight, Sky & Telescope reported.
+https://gizmodo.com/newly-discovered-comet-could-appear-during-the-day-if-its-not-destroyed-first-2000732680
@@ Line 1390: / Line 1486: @@
 https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/meteorite-200-times-larger-than-one-that-killed-dinosaurs-reset-early-life/4020391.article
+===== Arizona =====
+== Arizona's Meteor Crater is still revealing new secrets 50,000 years later ==
+"The crater is still providing new insights every year, so continued studies there are really important."
+Leonard David - 13 March 2026
+Arizona's Meteor Crater and other scars leftover from collisions with space rocks continue to serve up their secrets.
+Meteor Crater formed some 50,000 years ago. It represents the best preserved meteor impact site in the world, measuring some 700 feet deep (213 meters), more than 4,000 feet across (1,219 meters), and 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers) in circumference.
+Impact features like Meteor Crater continue to be ongoing research sites, generating new data on what happens when objects from the cosmos strike our planet. In fact, a number of competitive grants are being offered to support field research at known or suspected impact sites worldwide. That funding is backing laboratory and computer analysis of research samples and findings, creating new data from digging in on old craters around our globe.
+https://www.space.com/stargazing/meteor-showers/arizonas-meteor-crater-is-still-revealing-new-secrets-50-000-years-later