asteroids

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climate changeclimate change
+3+3
Bennu holds on to rocks, Antarctica is paradoxically gaining ice
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Bennu holds on to rocks, Antarctica is paradoxically gaining ice

A tiny asteroid retains small rocks even with low gravity, and Antarctica net ice loss reverses even as gross ice loss increases

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+6+6
No aliens for Boyajian’s Star, and trees reach up to connect electrically with the sky
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No aliens for Boyajian’s Star, and trees reach up to connect electrically with the sky

The star seems to have settled its unsettling behavior down, and corona discharges from trees finally seen in the wild

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
exoplanetsexoplanets
+6+6
A new mini-moon for Earth next year, two moon-sized exoworlds collided
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A new mini-moon for Earth next year, two moon-sized exoworlds collided

We get a second moon, kinda, for a week in 2027. Also, a cosmic train wreck around another star

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
MarsMars
+5+5
Psyche peeks at Mars before a gravitational rendezvous

Psyche peeks at Mars before a gravitational rendezvous

Also: The world is leaving the US behind in solar and wind power

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
solar systemsolar system
+6+6
How much ice is there really on the moon?
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How much ice is there really on the moon?

New observations imply there’s less than we thought

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
solar systemsolar system
+4+4
Rubin bags 11,000 new asteroids!

Rubin bags 11,000 new asteroids!

This is just the beginning, too. There are more millions more out there waiting to be seen.

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
supernovaesupernovae
+4+4
A red supergiant that isn’t yellow
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A red supergiant that isn’t yellow

WOH G64 has apparently kept its hue. Also, the sun does seem to be able to fry asteroids that venture too close

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
asteroidsasteroids
+2+2
Way too much DART news

Way too much DART news

The NASA spacecraft hit the moon Dimorphos, but that yanked the whole system hard enough to measure. Also, the plume was modeled in 3D, and the bigger asteroid is spitting rocks at its moon. So yeah, a lot.

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
supernovaesupernovae
+5+5
Looks like the asteroid 2024 YR4 won’t impact the moon, plus Rubin Observatory sends out its first cosmic alerts... 800,000 of them!

Looks like the asteroid 2024 YR4 won’t impact the moon, plus Rubin Observatory sends out its first cosmic alerts... 800,000 of them!

Supernovae, asteroids, and more: That’s a lot of alerts.

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
asteroidsasteroids
+5+5
Standing up for Science rally, Physics Girl is back, and we need to find more asteroids

Standing up for Science rally, Physics Girl is back, and we need to find more asteroids

I’m angry about anti-science attacks, Dianna Cowern has made a new video, and a graph shows why we need to look for near-Earth asteroids

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+5+5
A spider web a million trillion kilometers wide: JWST’s view of IC 5332 (1)

A spider web a million trillion kilometers wide: JWST’s view of IC 5332 (1)

Also: How many near-Earth asteroids have been visited by spacecraft?

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+4+4
A spider web a million trillion kilometers wide: JWST’s view of IC 5332
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A spider web a million trillion kilometers wide: JWST’s view of IC 5332

Also: How many near-Earth asteroids have been visited by spacecraft?

Philip Plait
Philip Plait