Water molecules identified on asteroids for the first time

Scientists identified water on two main-belt asteroids, 7 Iris and 20 Massalia, using data from the now-defunct SOFIA airborne observatory.

Mysterious Rings Around Space Rock Might Be Carved by a Secret Moon

Scientists have discovered that a pair of rings circling an asteroid-like chunk of rock in the cold reaches of space out past Jupiter are likely being shepherded by a tiny, unseen moonlet.

Fragments of Asteroid With Mystery Origin Are Found Outside Berlin

Early analysis of the fragments has shown something equally rare. The meteorite is an aubrite, a class with unknown origins that some scientists argue may be pieces of the planet Mercury.

Ancient 'Black Box' Hints at What Really Killed The Dinosaurs

Fine dust suspended in the atmosphere may have played a significant role in the extinction of dinosaurs after all.

NASA's Psyche asteroid mission: a 3.6 billion kilometre 'journey to the centre of the Earth'

A distant lump of space rock may have a surprising amount in common with the core of our own planet.

NASA's Bennu Asteroid Sample Contains Carbon, Water

Initial studies of the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu sample collected in space and brought to Earth by NASA show evidence of high-carbon content and water.

Asteroids May Be Hiding Elements From Beyond The Periodic Table

The densest naturally occurring element on the periodic table is the metal osmium. But there are some objects out there in the Solar System that seem to be way more dense than osmium.

Asteroid Ryugu Was Once a Planet Forming in Our Solar System

According to an analysis of grains collected from asteroid Ryugu, at least part of the carbon-rich rock started its life much farther from the Sun before ending up in the asteroid belt and then, ultimately, at roughly Earth's distance from the Sun.

Astronomers Have Mapped The Paths of Hazardous Asteroids For The Next 1,000 Years

While our census of hazardous NEOs is not nearly complete, we do have reliable maps of nearly all of the potentially hazardous asteroids larger than a kilometer (0.6 mile) across.

NASA's Lucy Mission Snaps its First Views of Trojan Asteroid Targets

Some of the asteroids NASA's Lucy mission will visit are still more than 330 million miles away from the spacecraft, but despite the great distance and the comparatively small sizes, Lucy caught views of four of its targets in late March.

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.

Space origin for the building blocks of life on Earth

An international team has analyzed samples taken from the asteroid Ryugu in 2018 by the Hayabusa2 mission and found uracil, one of the five key bases of the RNA and DNA molecules that are crucial to life as we know it.

NASA Confirms DART Mission Impact Changed Asteroid's Motion in Space

Humanity’s first attempt to purposely change the motion of asteroid was a success. The DART mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us in future.

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.