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Chance asteroid 2024 YR4 will hit Earth down to 0.001 percent, ESA says

The chance that a football field-sized asteroid capable of destroying a city will strike Earth in 2032 has fallen to 0.001 percent, the European Space Agency said on Tuesday.

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Multi-line reverberation mapping uncovers hidden dynamics in active galactic nuclei

A research team from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently published a study in The Astrophysical Journal that examines the inner and outer broad-line regions (BLRs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs).

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Latest observations help almost fully rule out 2024 YR4 asteroid impact

New observations of 2024 YR4 conducted with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and facilities around the world have all but ruled out an impact of the asteroid with our planet. The asteroid has been closely monitored in the past couple of months as its odds of impacting Earth in 2032 rose […]

Solar system’s journey through Orion complex 14 million years ago may have altered Earth’s climate

An international research team led by the University of Vienna has discovered that the solar system traversed the Orion star-forming complex, a component of the Radcliffe Wave galactic structure, approximately 14 million years ago. This journey through a dense region of space could have compressed the heliosphere, the protective bubble surrounding our solar system, and […]

NASA’s Europa Clipper uses Mars to go the distance

On March 1, NASA’s Europa Clipper will streak just 550 miles (884 kilometers) above the surface of Mars for what’s known as a gravity assist—a maneuver to bend the spacecraft’s trajectory and position it for a critical leg of its long voyage to the Jupiter system. The close flyby offers a bonus opportunity for mission […]

Elon Musk calls for deorbit of International Space Station as soon as possible

Elon Musk’s latest space-related hammer throw is to call for it to be deorbited as soon as two years from now.

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Do look up: How Earth can defend itself against asteroid

There is a very small chance that an asteroid capable of taking out an entire city could strike Earth in less than eight years. But even if this asteroid is hurtling our way, humanity is now able to defend itself against such a threat, experts say.

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Asteroid deflection strategies: Researchers unveil new scenarios

How prepared are we to deflect an asteroid heading towards Earth? This question is answered by two studies just published in Nature Communications, the result of a collaboration between Politecnico di Milano, Georgia Institute of Technology and other international institutions. The research analyzes the historical results of NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, which […]

Moon or Mars? NASA’s future at a crossroads under Trump

Is NASA still Moonbound, or will the next giant leap mean skipping straight to Mars?

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60 years ago: Ranger 8 moon photos aid in Apollo site selection

Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the […]

Odds plummet that asteroid will hit Earth in 2032

The chance that an asteroid capable of wiping out a city will hit Earth in eight years has been cut in half to around 1.5 percent, according to new calculations from NASA.

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Musk in X spat with Danish astronaut over ‘abandoned’ ISS crew

The world’s richest man Elon Musk got into a heated row Thursday with a Danish astronaut who criticized the tech billionaire’s claim that former president Joe Biden intentionally abandoned two American astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

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New landing spot: SpaceX launch could bring sonic boom to the Bahamas

SpaceX has found a new parking spot off of the Bahamas for its droneships that catch boosters from launches from the Space Coast.

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Mission to investigate signs of life on Jupiter’s icy moons

Research Fellow Dr. Babak Bakhit has encountered one of his most challenging projects to date—contributing to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission.

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Observations investigate long-term X-ray variability of young stellar object HL Tauri

Using ESA’s XMM-Newton satellite and NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory, astronomers have observed a young stellar object known as HL Tauri. Results of the observation campaign, presented Feb. 11 on the arXiv pre-print server, yield important insights into long-term X-ray variability and properties of this object.

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