asteroid – News Stories About asteroid - Page 9

Jan 25, 2008 9:49 AM CST

Asteroid to Whiz Past Earth

Space rock to be visible Tuesday even through amateur telescopes

(Newser) - A big asteroid is set to speed past Earth on Tuesday night, and those with amateur telescopes will get a peek. NASA discovered the object in October, and scientists believe it's between 500 and 2,000 feet in diameter, LiveScience reports. It won't come closer than 334,000 miles to...

Asteroid Won't Slam Into Mars After All

Jan 11, 2008 4:24 AM CST

Asteroid Won't Slam Into Mars After All

Disappointed scientists were hoping to study collision

(Newser) - An asteroid heading toward Mars won't crash into it after all, according to disappointed scientists. They had initially calculated there was a 1-in-27 chance of the space rock hitting the red planet, but after new observations researchers estimate the odds are only 1 in 10,000, "effectively ruling out...

Mars Smash Looking Likelier

Dec 29, 2007 7:55 AM CST

Mars Smash Looking Likelier

Still a longshot, but cosmic collision now a 25-1 chance

(Newser) - Scientists say the chances of a giant asteroid smashing into Mars on January 30 have gone up steeply, the AP reports. It's still a 25-1 longshot, but stargazers have their fingers crossed. I think it'll be cool," said a NASA tracker. "Usually when an asteroid is headed toward...

Asteroid On Path to Smash Mars

Dec 20, 2007 8:17 PM CST

Asteroid On Path to Smash Mars

Big rock has a good chance of striking on Jan. 30

(Newser) - A big asteroid has a decent chance of blasting into Mars next month with potentially devastating consequences for the Red Planet, the LA Times reports. Back on earth, meanwhile, astronomers say that being able to watch an asteroid impact for the first time would be a "scientific bonanza."...

Volcanoes Helped Doom Dinos

Nov 13, 2007 2:42 PM CST

Volcanoes Helped Doom Dinos

Research shows extinction resulted from not only an asteroid but volcanoes too

(Newser) - Not one but two catastrophic events may have spelled destruction for the Age of Dinosaurs, previously thought to have ended when an asteroid or comet struck the earth. New research suggests the prehistoric giants died off in “an unfortunate coincidence of a one-two punch—of Deccan volcanism and then...

NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket

Sep 27, 2007 10:30 AM CDT

NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket

First 'interplanetary' spaceship to visit two asteroids

(Newser) - This morning NASA launched a spacecraft that's headed to the asteroid belt, where it will get a close-up look at the belt's largest bodies, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. It's NASA’s first multi-target mission, and Dawn, which one engineer called “the first real interplanetary spaceship,...

Probe to Study Asteroid Too Close to Earth

Aug 31, 2007 6:27 AM CDT

Probe to Study Asteroid Too Close to Earth

Scientists weighing options on how to veer giant rock off collision course

(Newser) - Astronomers are preparing to send a probe to investigate an asteroid that in 2029 will pass closer to Earth than communications satellites do. The mission would gather information on the 1,000-foot-wide rock to figure out whether it poses a serious danger the next time it passes Earth in 2036.