NASA just brought back the largest-ever asteroid sample

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has delivered pieces of asteroid Bennu, which scientists hope will offer a window into the early era of the Solar System billions of years ago.

NASA spacecraft delivering biggest sample yet from an asteroid

A NASA spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.

Risk of Giant Asteroids Hitting Earth Could Be Worse

NASA's scientist, James Garvin, thinks we might have been misreading traces of some of the more serious asteroid strikes that have occurred within the past million years. If he's right, the odds of being hit by something nasty could be higher.

Massive asteroid passes between Earth and Moon

An asteroid large enough to destroy a city has passed between the orbits of the Earth and the Moon, missing both.

Analysis of particles of the asteroid Ryugu delivers surprising results

Geoscientists have now discovered areas with a massive accumulation of rare earths and unexpected structures.

Grains of dust from asteroid Ryugu older than our solar system

An international team of researchers studying dust samples retrieved by the Hayabusa-2 space probe, has found that some of its dust grains are older than the solar system. 

NASA Dart Asteroid Mission Launched

Nasa's Dart mission has launched on a mission to test technology that could one day tip a dangerous asteroid off course. The spacecraft will crash into an object called Dimorphos to see how much its path can be altered.

Something big Just hit Jupiter

The impact on Jupiter was reported by both amateur and professional astronomers. The object’s diameter is estimated at 20 meters and it is believed to be the remnant of a larger comet or asteroid.

Organic Material Found on an Asteroid

 A UK team of scientists found organic material and water in a sample of Itokawa, the asteroid the first Hayabusa mission visited over 10 years ago.

1.2 billion years ago, a 1-km asteroid smashed into Scotland

New research by a team of UK scientists has located the site of the massive impact that took place in Scotland 1.2 billion years ago. Roughly one billion years ago, Earth experienced a higher rate of meteorite impact than it does today.

Mass anomaly detected under the moon's largest crater

A mysterious large mass of material has been discovered beneath the largest crater in our solar system - the Moon's South Pole - Aitken basin and may contain metal from the asteroid that crashed into the Moon and formed the crater.

Double asteroid tracked by VLT in planetary defense test

The European Very Large Telescope participated in test coordinated by the International Asteroid Warning Network, successfully targeting, tracking and imaging a double asteroid as it flew within 5.2 million km of Earth on 25 May.

Asteroid Bennu Is Throwing Material off into Space

The OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed interesting things about the asteroid Bennu. This includes the first-ever close-up observations of particle plumes erupting from an asteroid’s surface. There have been 11 “ejection events” since the spacecraft first arrived.

Extremely rare blue asteroid stumps scientists

An international team studying 3200 Phaethon, a 3.6-mile-long rock believed responsible for the annual Geminid meteor shower, has revealed that the asteroid's surface exhibits a blue color.

OSIRIS-REx captures its first images of asteroid Bennu

Two years after launch, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has snapped its first pictures of asteroid Bennu, setting the stage for a cautious approach designed to put the probe in orbit around its quarry on New Year’s Eve.