A 9 km asteroid hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, causing a mass extinction. A new study suggests that if it had hit elsewhere, the damage wouldn’t have been as catastrophic and dinosaurs may have survived. Only 13% of the Earth’s surface had the right composition for such an extinction. A roughly 5.6-mile […]
Vredefort Crater is the largest verified asteroid crater in the world, located in South Africa, while Wilkes Land Crater may be larger but is yet to be verified. Vredefort is approximately 186 miles in diameter, 3 miles deep, and 2 billion years old. Wilkes Land is said to be 300 miles in diameter and located […]
Asteroid mining involves extracting valuable materials from small, dense bodies orbiting the Sun. Technical, financial, and legal challenges must be overcome for it to become a reality. Asteroids are believed to contain valuable minerals, including iron, nickel, gold, and platinum. Space colonization is another motivation for asteroid mining. However, technical challenges such as reliable transportation […]
Comets have tails and elongated orbits, while asteroids have circular orbits and merge into belts. Comets’ tails and coma are generated by solar heating, while asteroids are dry. Most comets originate from the Oort cloud, while asteroids are within the solar system’s “snow line.” There are several important differences between comets and asteroids, although the […]
Asteroids are small celestial bodies that orbit the sun and are made up of various materials. The largest known asteroid is Ceres. Most asteroids are concentrated in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers catalog asteroids to learn more about the solar system and universe. An asteroid, sometimes called a planetoid, is a small […]
Theia, a Mars-sized body that formed over 4 billion years ago, collided with Earth, creating a volume of molten rock that formed the Moon. The largest asteroid to hit Earth was about 6 miles in size, with the largest verified crater being Vredefort in South Africa. The Wilkes Land anomaly in Antarctica may indicate an […]
The main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is made up of hundreds of thousands of asteroids of varying sizes, with two theories of its formation. The first theory suggests a protoplanet was destroyed, while the second theory suggests they are remnants from the formation of the solar system. The main belt is a large […]
Thousands of tonnes of space debris hit Earth each year, but most is in the form of dust. Large asteroids that could threaten Earth are rare. Asteroids and meteorites are different, and the largest asteroids are Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta. Asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere every day, but rarely make it to the surface because they […]
Asteroid impacts are unlikely to wipe out humanity, with larger asteroids hitting Earth less than once a century. However, asteroids over 250m in diameter hit Earth about once every 50,000 years, and scientists are looking for ways to redirect them. Proposed methods include nuclear bombs, kinetic collisions, and the “gravity tractor” approach, but they take […]
The asteroid belt, containing 98.5% of known asteroids, is stable due to gravitational interactions between the Sun and Jupiter. It is relatively sparse and could be a source of resources. The belt will never merge into a planet due to constant collisions and the dust produced creates zodiacal light. The asteroid belt contains 98.5% of […]
Asteroid impacts occur at different frequencies and sizes. Small impacts occur twice a year and can cause an airburst twice as large as the Hiroshima bomb. Larger impacts occur less frequently and can cause more damage, with asteroids larger than 1 km posing the greatest threat to human life. However, the probability of such an […]
Asteroids are potential colonization sites due to their large surface area and valuable resources. Excavated asteroids could sustain life and provide a basis for an inner solar system economy. Colonizing asteroids could also be a solution to overpopulation on Earth. Since the mid-20th century, space enthusiasts and visionaries have looked to asteroids as possible colonization […]
Vulcanoids are hypothesized asteroids that may orbit between 0.08 and 0.21 astronomical units from the Sun. Their existence is difficult to confirm due to the Sun’s glare, but their presence is expected based on other stable regions in the solar system and Mercury’s surface scars. Special telescopes and equipment are needed to observe the region […]
The energy released by an asteroid impact is determined by its mass and velocity. Asteroids are denser than comets, which affects the impact’s consequences. Size, impact angle, and surface area also play a role. Large impacts can incinerate forests, bathe areas in magma, and block the Sun, leading to the collapse of food chains. Impacts […]
