Tag Archive for 'Asteroid belt'

This image, taken by the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the main-belt asteroid Hygiea. Image credit: ESO / P. Vernazza et al / MISTRAL algorithm / ONERA / CNRS.

Astronomers Measure Size and Shape of Main-Belt Asteroid Hygiea

Oct 29, 2019 by News Staff

Hygiea is the fourth largest main belt asteroid and the only known asteroid whose surface composition appears similar to that of the dwarf planet Ceres....

Schmitz et al argue that the mid-Ordovician ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere of Earth from the breakup of a giant asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Dust from Disintegrated Asteroid Triggered Mid-Ordovician Ice Age

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

There’s always a lot of extraterrestrial dust floating down to Earth, but this dust is normally only a tiny fraction of the other dust in our atmosphere...

The asteroid (6478) Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Meech & J. Kleyna, University of Hawaii / O. Hainaut, European Southern Observatory.

Hubble Spots Multi-Tailed Active Asteroid

Mar 28, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers once thought asteroids were boring, wayward space rocks that simply orbit around the Sun. But recent observations show that asteroids are anything...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arriving at Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Dawn Mission Ends as Spacecraft Runs Out of Fuel

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

NASA declares Dawn, a mission to the two largest bodies in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, over after the spacecraft depletes...

This artist’s concept shows a young planetary system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Inner Main-Belt Asteroids Are Remnants of Few Ancient Minor Planets, Study Shows

Jul 4, 2018 by News Staff

According to new research, at least 85% of 200,000 asteroids in the inner asteroid belt — the main source of Earth’s meteorites — originate...

Main-belt asteroids 29 Amphitrite, 324 Bamberga, 2 Pallas, and 89 Julia. Image credit: Vernazza et al / ESO.

ESO’s Planet Hunter Spots Four Massive Main-Belt Asteroids

Dec 28, 2017 by News Staff

ESO’s Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research (SPHERE) instrument, installed on the Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in...

Large, smooth areas on Vesta correlated with higher concentrations of hydrogen. Image credit: Elizabeth Palmer / Essam Heggy.

Dawn Data Provide New Evidence for Ground Ice on Asteroid Vesta

Sep 22, 2017 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, researchers have found new evidence for the occurrence of ground ice on Vesta, the second largest asteroid of...

Hubble Spots Unusual Binary Asteroid in Main Belt

Sep 21, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have spotted an unusual object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter: two asteroids orbiting...

Artist’s conception of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system. Image credit: NASA.

Earth’s Water Explained by Gas Giant Gluttony

Jul 19, 2017 by James Romero

Water on Earth, Mars and everywhere within the inner Solar System can be traced back to the rapid waist-expanding growth of Jupiter and Saturn, which knocked...

Artist’s illustration of the Epsilon Eridani system. In the right foreground, the Jupiter-mass planet Epsilon Eridani b is shown orbiting its star at the outside edge of an asteroid belt. In the background can be seen another narrow asteroid or comet belt plus an outermost belt similar in size to our Solar System’s Kuiper Belt. The similarity of the structure of the Epsilon Eridani system to our Solar System is remarkable, although Epsilon Eridani is much younger than our Sun. Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / Lynette Cook.

Epsilon Eridani System is Remarkably Similar to Our Own

May 3, 2017 by News Staff

New observations from the joint German-U.S. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the largest airborne observatory in the world, indicate...

The asteroid 31 Euphrosyne glides across a field of background stars in this time-lapse view from NASA’s WISE spacecraft. WISE obtained the images used to create this view over a period of about a day around May 17, 2010, during which it observed the asteroid four times. The moving asteroid appears as a string of orange dots because it is much cooler than the distant background stars. Stars have temperatures in the thousands of degrees, but the asteroid is cooler than room temperature. Thus the stars are represented by shorter wavelength blue colors in this view, while the asteroid is shown in longer wavelength reddish colors. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Researchers Track Down Origins of Some Near-Earth Objects

Aug 6, 2015 by News Staff

A new study using data from NASA’s NEOWISE space telescope has traced some dark Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) back to their likely source – a family...

This image was taken by the Dawn space probe of dwarf planet Ceres on February 19 from a distance of nearly 46,000 km. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Two Bright Spots on Dwarf Planet Ceres Puzzle Scientists

Feb 26, 2015 by News Staff

New images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, taken nearly 46,000 km from Ceres, show two mysterious bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet. This...

This processed image shows the dwarf planet Ceres as seen from the Dawn; the image hints at craters on the surface of Ceres; the spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the dwarf planet on March 6. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Captures New Image of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Jan 20, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned a new image of Ceres – the largest object in the main asteroid belt, taken from a distance of about 383,000...

This is an artist's impression of the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Dawn Spacecraft Sees Ceres

Dec 8, 2014 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has just returned its first photo of the dwarf planet Ceres, taken from 1.2 million kilometers away. Dawn spacecraft captured...

Scientists Create Map of Solar System’s Asteroids

Jan 30, 2014 by News Staff

Planetary scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and European Space Astronomy have created a map of more than 100,000 asteroids throughout...

Ceres: Water Vapor Detected on Dwarf Planet

Jan 23, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory have detected water vapor on the dwarf planet Ceres, the biggest object in the main asteroid belt. This...

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