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--- transportation:comets [2025/12/05 20:53] – [Analysis] timb
+++ transportation:comets [2026/06/04 00:33] (current) – [Massachusetts] 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/
@@ Line 1302: / 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
+== Watch a Comet Get Torn Apart by the Sun and Become a Headless Ghost ==
+Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) didn't survive its close encounter with the Sun, ruining its chances of brightening up the night skies.
+Passant Rabie - April 10, 2026, 1:35 pm ET
+Bad news for skywatchers: A sungrazing comet that was set to put on a bright display succumbed to a fateful encounter with our host star.
+Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) was obliterated during its perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun, on Saturday, April 4. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured the comet’s death dive as it came within 99,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) of the Sun’s atmosphere.
+https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-comet-get-torn-apart-by-the-sun-and-become-a-headless-ghost-2000745014
@@ Line 1430: / Line 1500: @@
 https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/meteorite-200-times-larger-than-one-that-killed-dinosaurs-reset-early-life/4020391.article
+===== 2026 =====
+==== 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
+==== Massachusetts ====
+== Meteor explodes over Massachusetts: New details on size, where it landed ==
+Traveling at about 42,000 mph when it entered the atmosphere, the meteor streaked through the sky for 26 miles, headed from northwest to southeast.
+Staff and wire reports - June 1, 2026 / Updated June 1, 2026 at 5:06 pm
+Reports of an explosion from people across New England on Saturday afternoon sent police agencies and others scrambling to understand what caused a double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
+NASA shared new details on the size and path of the meteor on Monday, upgrading the size of the object and revealing how far it flew before exploding.
+The meteor was about five feet wide, according to the space agency, with a mass of 5.6 metric tons. (That's about the weight of a large elephant.) Traveling at about 42,000 mph when it entered the atmosphere at 2:06 p.m., the meteor streaked through the sky for 26 miles, headed from northwest to southeast.
+The flaming object, confirmed to be made of natural material, as opposed to a satellite or space debris, broke up 31 miles above sea level with force equivalent to 230 tons of TNT, and the meteorite fell into Cape Cod Bay.
+https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/meteor-explodes-over-massachusetts-what-we-know-and-where-it-landed/3957663/