Differences

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

--- transportation:comets [2025/09/26 21:38] – [Water] timb
+++ transportation:comets [2026/07/28 21:27] (current) – [Meteorite] timb
@@ Line 286: / Line 286: @@
+===== 1998 SH2 =====
+== Scientists Believed This Near-Earth Object Was an Asteroid for 28 Years. They Were Wrong ==
+The asteroid 1998 SH2 is actually not an asteroid at all.
+Passant Rabie - July 21, 2026, 7:30 am ET
+On August 28, 2025, astronomers aimed NASA’s radar system at a region of space where a near-Earth asteroid was expected to appear. Instead, the object failed to show up, leaving researchers puzzled. The unexpected no-show turned what seemed like a routine observation into a surprising case of mistaken identity.
+In a study published in Nature Astronomy, a team of scientists reveals the true identity of a near-Earth object with an apparent dual personality. Scientists had been tracking the object for 28 years, assuming it might be an asteroid. Its recent deviation from its predicted path, however, suggested something unexpected is influencing the object’s motion.
+Although previous observations of asteroid 1998 SH2 didn’t show obvious comet-like behavior, a more precise measurement of its position in the sky proved that its motion is irregular like that of a comet.
+https://gizmodo.com/scientists-thought-this-near-earth-object-was-an-asteroid-for-28-years-they-were-wrong-2000787726
@@ Line 536: / Line 553: @@
 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 675: / Line 716: @@
 https://futurism.com/asteroid-nasa-dart-unexpected
+== Scientists Say We Should Nuke Dangerous Asteroids—Just Not the Way You Think ==
+It's sort of like Armageddon, but with less oil drills.
+Passant Rabie - July 9, 2026, 10:55 am ET
+Scientists in China say a nuclear explosion could be the most effective way to stop a large asteroid—and they may have identified the best strategy for making it work.
+A recent study published in Space: Science & Technology proposes a new approach for planetary defense. In response to the threat of an asteroid impact, the researchers, led by Wang Xiaowei from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, suggest carving a crater into the asteroid and placing a nuclear warhead inside it before detonation.
+This approach could destroy or deflect asteroids roughly 330 feet (100 meters) wide, which would otherwise wreak havoc on our planet.
+https://gizmodo.com/scientists-say-we-should-nuke-dangerous-asteroids-just-not-the-way-you-think-2000783487
@@ Line 718: / Line 771: @@
 https://gizmodo.com/dust-dinosaur-extinction-climate-simulations-chicxulub-1850985083
+== The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs May Not Have Done It Exactly How We Thought ==
+Researchers identified the Chicxulub impactor as an exceptionally rare type of asteroid that wouldn't have triggered a mass extinction in the way scientists previously thought.
+Ellyn Lapointe - July 20, 2026, 11:45 am ET
+Roughly 66 million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into what is known today as Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, triggering the extinction of all non-bird dinosaurs and many other species. Scientists know this thanks to a wealth of geological evidence, but a new study has them rethinking how the impact contributed to that mass extinction.
+The findings, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, suggest that the asteroid was an exceptionally rare visitor from the edge of our solar system. After analyzing samples from a thin layer of clay that the impact deposited across the globe, the researchers concluded that the impactor was a CO chondrite. This type of space rock has relatively low concentrations of volatile elements such as water, carbon, zinc, and particularly sulfur, which throws the widely accepted extinction mechanism into question.
+“It doesn’t alter our theory of what caused the extinction event—but it makes it less likely that sulphur contained in the impactor was the smoking gun,” co-author Philippe Claeys, a planetary scientist and professor at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, said in a statement. “The fine debris thrown into the atmosphere would have [been] the primary factor.” Claeys contributed to this research as a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia.
+https://gizmodo.com/the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-may-not-have-done-it-exactly-how-we-thought-2000787712
@@ Line 868: / Line 934: @@
 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 1136: / Line 1219: @@
 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 1278: / Line 1385: @@
 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 1406: / Line 1542: @@
 https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/meteorite-200-times-larger-than-one-that-killed-dinosaurs-reset-early-life/4020391.article
+== Amateur Astronomer Discovers Ancient Meteorite Impact Using Google Maps ==
+Scientists confirmed that the crater dates back around 390 million years ago.
+Passant Rabie - July 28, 2026, 9:25 am ET
+Joël Lapointe was casually browsing Google Maps, planning hiking routes for an upcoming camping trip, when he stumbled upon an unusual indentation near Marsal Lake in Quebec. As an amateur astronomer, Lapointe recognized that the large pit may be the site of a meteorite impact that left a scar on the terrain. Scientists just confirmed that he was right.
+Researchers announced the existence of a large crater in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, which dates back to around 390 million years ago, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported. Following Lapointe’s initial discovery in 2024, a team of geologists set out to examine the impact site and were able to verify that a meteorite did in fact smash into Earth at this particular point.
+The team’s research will be presented at the annual congress of the Meteoritical Society, which will be held on August 9 to 14 in Frankfurt, Germany.
+https://gizmodo.com/amateur-astronomer-discovers-ancient-meteorite-impact-using-google-maps-2000791283
+===== 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/