Spaceflight 🚀#HelioLinc3D spotted an #asteroid ☄️ that similar surveys had failed to see. It was specifically designed for the @VRubinObs in #Chile 🇨🇱. The #observatory’s huge mirror 📡, massive camera and expansive eye will see 👁️ pretty much everything in the night sky 🌌 in unprecedented detail https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/science/space-asteroids-rubin-heliolinc3d.html
In 📆 2018, #StephenHawking considered an #asteroid ☄️ collision to be the biggest threat to the #planet. The #US National Science and Technology Council warned that America is unprepared for an asteroid impact 💥 event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_prediction
“Our goal is that by 📆 2030, #Europe 🇪🇺 can provide early warning for hazardous #asteroids larger than 40 m in size, about three weeks before any impact” https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Flyeye_ESA_s_bug-eyed_asteroid_hunter
Closest & Biggest #Asteroid ☄️ Flybys of 📆 2023 https://www.statista.com/chart/27703/asteroid-flybys
Timeline of approaches within one #lunar distance 📏 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth#Timeline_of_approaches_within_one_lunar_distance
190 confirmed ☄️ #craters given in the #Earth Impact 💥 Database as of 2017. Only the largest impact structures within a time period are included https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_structures_on_Earth
🇮🇳 #Lonar crater*, diameter 1.8 kilometres, the only known #extraterrestrial impact crater found within the great #DeccanTraps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlqzKQjb-sA
The Impact Crater in India; Lonar Crater
“The most glaring mistake is the #government cover-up… just completely bogus.” And a #meteorite that struck southwest #Ontario in November illustrated that a cover-up couldn’t be further from the truth when actual Earth-pummeling #asteroids ☄️ are found. https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/you-help-protect-earth-asteroid
#AsteroidInstitute / #University of #Washington / #OpenSpace Project - #Asteroid discoveries 🔭 from Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFvf86SM7CY
Asteroid discoveries from Earth -Asteroid Institute + Google April 30, 2024
We simply didn't notice 🙈 until recently 😨 https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/over-33000-near-earth-asteroids-have-been-detected-since-1990
Over 40,000 near-Earth asteroids have been detected since 1990
Since the late 20th century, astronomers and space agencies have taken steps to monitor the threat of large asteroids passing near Earth. They set up international efforts to find these objects early, track their paths, and learn more about what they’re made of, so we’d have the best chance of spotting a real collision risk in time.
“We’ve taken an existing dataset… and what we realized is that there are many, many tens of thousands of #asteroids ☄️ in those datasets that nobody has noticed before. And you can unlock them if you have enough computation.” 💻 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-discover-27500-asteroids-in-old-telescope-images-using-ai-180984277/
☄️ Narrated by @neiltyson . Featuring @drbrianmay, @cmdr_hadfield and many others https://asteroidday.org/resources/asteroid-learning/scientists-rock-series/
As of today, we have identified less than half of all near-Earth objects ☄️ at least 140 meters across. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center has recorded 34,152 #asteroids with orbits that come within 0.05 AU of the Earth 🌍. Starting in 📆 2025, #NEO searches will get a big boost when the @VRubinObs 🔭 finally achieves first light. https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/outdoing-the-dinosaurs-what-we-could-do-if-we-spot-a-threatening-asteroid/
The largest camera 📷 ever built for #astronomy, the 3.2-gigapixel Legacy Survey of Space and Time CCD camera will capture the night sky 🌌 above the southern hemisphere 1,000 times each night in six wavelengths, from ultraviolet to near-infrared, totaling 15 terabytes. It’s likely to catalog 90% of near-Earth objects, such as #asteroids ☄️, larger than 300 meters 📏 —and calculate if they are a threat to Earth. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/04/30/this-is-what-the-worlds-biggest-and-best-new-digital-camera-will-image-in-32-gigapixels/
🗺️ @VRubinObs https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=Rubin+Observatory&layer=Esri+Satellite
“It would have been great to detect the object ☄️ prior to colliding with the Earth,” said Juan Luis Cano, a member of the #PlanetaryDefence Office at the #ESA https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/19/science/comet-fireball-portugal-spain.html
METEORITO | Así es la 'bola de luz' que ha iluminado el cielo en España y Portugal | EL PAÍS
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) represent potentially catastrophic threats to our planet. The approximate total impact energy of the #Chelyabinsk Fireball 2013 was 440 kilotons, the most energetic impact 💥 event recognized since the 1908 #Tunguska blast in Russian Siberia. https://www.un.org/en/observances/asteroid-day
#Comet A3 ☄️ can now also be seen in the northern hemisphere, @royalastrosoc said.
Between 12 and 30 October, people may be able to see the comet using binoculars or even with the naked eye 👀 https://www.independent.co.uk/space/comet-a3-century-neanderthals-skies-tonight-b2628266.html
Between 12 and 30 October, people may be able to see the comet using binoculars or even with the naked eye 👀 https://www.independent.co.uk/space/comet-a3-century-neanderthals-skies-tonight-b2628266.html
Only eight #asteroids ☄️ have ever been detected before impact 💥 with #Earth’s atmosphere. The first of these discoveries took place in 📆 2008, and four were detected in just the last two years https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/Asteroid_2024_BX1_spotted_three_hours_before_impact
#Asteroid danger explained : "The main challenge stems from the population of middle-size objects, ranging from tens to hundreds of metres in diameter. There are a lot of these asteroids, and most have not been spotted yet." https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Asteroid_danger_explained
While humankind could deflect an incoming #asteroid by nuking it, using lasers to vaporise it, sending a space “tractor” to drag it off course, or bumping it into a new direction, none of it will be of any use if we don’t first spot 🔭 the threat. “It’s 100 per cent certain we’ll be hit, but we’re not 100 per cent certain when” https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/planetary-defenders-humanitys-greatest-challenge-to-save-the-world-from-catastrophic-asteroid-impacts/news-story/d3e2e2d71372a3d90cb02aa810f5ef60
The 375 meters 📏 space rock will come closer to our planet than #satellites in its orbit and 10 times nearer than the moon. The #asteroid comes within 32,000 kilometers of Earth on 📆 April 13, 2029 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/16/science/esa-ramses-apophis-asteroid-mission/index.html
Computing the orbital dynamics of a #NEA is a difficult problem. The leading source of orbital uncertainty for #Apophis is the #Yarkovsky effect https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00337-x
Non-zero Yarkovsky acceleration for near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis - Communications Earth & Environment
The Yarkovsky acceleration acting on near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis is large enough to require consideration when evaluating the object’s course and future close passes of Earth, according to an analysis of astrometry data collected including the 2021 flyby.
By analyzing how #Apophis changes during the flyby, scientists 👨🔬 will learn a lot about the response of an #asteroid to external forces. The asteroid ☄️ will be visible for around two billion people across much of #Europe and #Africa and parts of #Asia https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/european-space-agency-asteroid-ramses-apophis
Rü@spaceflight ca. 38010km closest approach in 2029! Only about 2000km out from geo-stationary!
@rue321 if the calculations are correct, yes
@VRubinObs 🔭 Today, #astronomers are aware of only about 40 percent 📊 of potentially hazardous #asteroids ☄️ - close-flying objects that are large enough to cause continent-wide destruction if they were to impact 💥 Earth. "The idea is, if there is an object like that, we want to find it while it’s maybe 40 or 50 years out, because that gives us enough time to figure out how we’re going to deflect it.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-revolutionary-new-observatory-will-locate-threatening-asteroids-and-millions-of-galaxies-180984514/
List of predicted 🔭 #asteroid ☄️ impacts on Earth 🌏 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predicted_asteroid_impacts_on_Earth
#Asteroid ☄️ #2024RW1 burned 🔥 up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific, creating a spectacular bright flash in the sky over the #Philippines just hours ⏱️ after first being detected. It was expected to hit at a speed of 17.6 km/s, or 63,360 km/h https://www.newscientist.com/article/2446397-a-small-asteroid-hit-earth-and-burned-up-over-the-philippines/
📆 September 4 2024 #2024RW1 ☄️ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NcBmMEaf18w
☄️ Asteroid rips through Philippines night sky
📆 1972 The #meteoroid would have had a maximum mass of 570 tons and a length of 14 meters. Its closest approach to the Earth’s surface occurred 58 kilometers above #Montana. It is estimated that if the object had impacted the Earth, it would have had the destructive force of an atomic bomb 💥 https://listverse.com/2019/01/27/10-times-a-meteor-fell-to-earth-and-flew-back-into-space/
Meteor Strikes Russia, Over 1,000 Believed Injured
#ESA "By the time the astrometry reached the impact 💥 monitoring systems, the impact had already happened." https://www.space.com/the-universe/asteroids/asteroid-that-hit-earth-hours-after-being-detected-was-3rd-imminent-impactor-of-2024
When discovered in 2004, #Apophis ☄️ was thought to have a 2.7% chance of colliding with Earth in 📆 2029. In 2021, #NASA ruled out these collision 💥 risks after refining its trajectory, but recent simulations have revived some concerns.
#2024YR4 will be too distant for radar observations until 📆 2032, when it could strike 💥 Earth. #Astronomers need more data to refine its exact orbit https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2025/02/02/a-deadly-asteroid-may-strike-earth-in-2032---what-to-know
#2024YR4 was first reported on 📆 27 December 2024 by the Asteroid Terrestrial Last Alert System (#ATLAS) station of the University of Hawai’i in #Chile 🇨🇱. It is likely in the range 40–90 meters 📏. The #asteroid will be observable through early April 2025 and then again starting in June 2028 when the asteroid ☄️ will return to the vicinity of Earth. Potential for impact 💥 on 22 December 2032 https://iawn.net/documents/NOTIFICATIONS/IAWN_Potential_Impact_Notification_2024_YR4.pdf
#ESA has determined that the #asteroid ☄️ will pass the Earth on 📆 22 December 2032 at a distance of almost 136,000 kilometers – with an #inaccuracy of 311,000 kilometers. 🤔 https://www.heise.de/en/news/Potentially-dangerous-asteroid-2024-YR-The-risk-continues-to-rise-very-slowly-10273047.html
#ESA : #2024YR4 ☄️ is estimated to be between 40 m and 100 m wide 📏. It is too early to determine where exactly on Earth a potential impact 💥 could occur. The #asteroid is currently moving away from Earth in almost a straight line, making it difficult to accurately determine its orbit by studying how its trajectory curves over time. It is possible it will fade from view 🔭 before we are able to entirely rule out any chance of impact in 2032 https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_actively_monitoring_near-Earth_asteroid_2024_YR4
@ScottManleyHimself : there's a real chance we can't honestly know the answer by April when it gets too faint to observe until 📆 2028 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esk1hg2knno
Asteroid Impact In 2032 - What Are The Chances? What Can We Do?
☄️ #Asteroid impact 💥 simulation https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher
(moved)Galbinus Caeli 🌯@spaceflight is there anything we can do to hurry it up?
@SkipHuffman the asteroid or the calculation ?
@spaceflight The asteroid. It can't get here fast enough.
(Just kidding, mostly.)
For the calculation we just need more compute power. Waiting for the LLM bubble to burst.
@SkipHuffman if it would arrive ahead of us we wouldn't care. ESA says "studying how its trajectory curves over time...", so it seems more a matter of measurement than calculation
#ESA’s #Gaia mission aims to create the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of everything in the sky 🌌. Researchers could use these extremely precise results to study the motion of #asteroids ☄️and figure out which ones might have an unusually large #density. #Scientists have estimated that some asteroids have mass densities greater than that of the densest element found on Earth https://science.arizona.edu/news/conversation-asteroids-solar-system-could-contain-undiscovered-superheavy-elements
The Conversation: Asteroids in the solar system could contain undiscovered, superheavy elements
Learning more about asteroids and exploring potential sources of superheavy elements will help scientists continue the century-spanning quest to characterize the matter that makes up the universe and better understand how objects in the solar system formed.
🇪🇺 #ESO's #ELT ist about 60% complete, first light 🔭 expected "for the end of this decade" * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugq_f623HXQ
Inside the Extremely Large Telescope being built in Chile | REUTERS
Because of #Chile’s 🇨🇱 near-ideal conditions for astronomy, it has become home to almost 40 percent 📊 of the world’s ground-based astronomy observing 🔭 capacity. Including current projects under construction 🏗️, within the next decade that number will increase 📈 to 60 percent. This makes any threat to the natural celestial purity of this remote region of Chile a threat to the present and future of ground-based astronomy as a whole https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/europes-extremely-large-telescope-faces-a-new-dire-threat
#MAVIS corrects distortions caused by the Earth's atmosphere. Components:
• Adaptive Optics System
corrects distortions using mirrors that can change shape in real time to compensate for atmospheric blurring
• Imaging Camera
captures high-resolution images of celestial objects with sensors to record light from stars, galaxies
• Spectrograph
splits light into its component colors (spectrum) to reveal temperature, distance, chemical makeup
https://www.hq.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/MAVIS.html
Adaptive Optics is a technique to compensate quickly varying optical aberrations in an #optical system 🔭. A limitation is that the correction is only valid in a very small patch of sky 🌌. Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics, or #MCAO uses several guide stars ✨ to measure the light wave aberrations in several directions. The corrected field of view is enlarged by a factor of 10 to 20 to obtain the most uniform output image quality https://mavis-ao.org/mavis/
"The YR4 episode is just the beginning for #astronomers gaining the capability to see 🔭 these objects ☄️ before they come calling through our neck of the woods." https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/asteroid-2024-yr4-may-be-a-dud-but-we-will-soon-find-many-more-threats
"The bad news is #NASA estimates that it tracks only about 40 percent 📊 of the #asteroids ☄️#large enough that they could cause calamity if they were to hit 💥 #Earth" https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/24/nasa-asteroid-telescope
#ESA : #Asteroid danger explained https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Asteroid_danger_explained
The 20-inch diameter #telescope 🔭 will carry out a five-year baseline survey to find at least two-thirds of the unknown #NEOs ☄️ larger than 140 meters 📏. It will launch around 📆 September 2027 to detect and observe #asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact 💥 threat to Earth https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/spacex-nasa-rocket-asteroid
A single #HAMMER impactor (9-meter-tall, 8.8-ton) could deflect an object ☄️ 90 meters in diameter 📏 by around 1.4 Earth radii with 10 years of lead time – from the time of launch to anticipated Earth impact. If limited to #telescopic 🔭 observations, it’s possible that researchers may not be 100 percent certain of an #impact until less than a year before collision 💥. https://www.llnl.gov/article/44186/scientists-design-conceptual-asteroid-deflector-and-evaluate-it-against-massive-potential
Scientists design conceptual asteroid deflector and evaluate it against massive potential threat
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are part of a national planetary defense team that designed a conceptual spacecraft to deflect Earth-bound asteroids and evaluated whether it would be able to nudge a massive asteroid – which has a remote chance to hitting Earth in 2135 – off course.
The warning time ⚠️ is unlikely to be more than a few months. Impacts 💥 from objects as small as 50 meters in diameter 📏, which are far more common, are historically extremely destructive regionally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_avoidance#Deflection_efforts
#2024BX1 is just the eighth #asteroid ☄️ that humankind has spotted 🔭 before impact 💥 (3 hours ⏱️) https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/Asteroid_2024_BX1_spotted_three_hours_before_impact
The vast majority of #asteroid impacts 💥 are still missed 🙈. Based on the few successfully predicted asteroid impacts, the average time between initial detection and impact is currently around 9 hours ⏱️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_prediction#Effectiveness_of_the_current_system
“We expect more possible impactors 💥 to be found 🔭 in coming years as more sensitive #asteroid ☄️ search programs begin operation" https://www.forbes.com/sites/amandakooser/2025/04/02/webb-measures-size-of-that-scary-not-scary-city-killer-asteroid
As this year progresses, the @VRubinObs 🔭 will start building up a baseline picture of the sky, and by the end of the year it should have started detecting changes and making that data available to the #astronomy community.
At that point, we can get serious about trying to find #Planet9 🌌 https://www.ksfr.org/npr-news/2025-04-09/if-planet-nine-is-out-there-this-telescope-might-actually-find-it
The @VRubinObs 220-ton mount takes 5 seconds ⏱️ to move to its next position.
Rubin will do near-real-time processing of new images every night and release world-public alerts within 60 seconds for objects that have moved ☄️ or changed. Every night, Rubin Observatory will produce 20 terabytes of data 💽 https://rubinobservatory.org/explore/how-rubin-works/technology
🗺️ https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=Rubin+Observatory&layer=Esri+Satellite
#AsteroidInstitute’s Asteroid ☄️ Discovery Analysis and Mapping (#ADAM) Platform has been in preparation for the @VRubinObs’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (#LSST) survey 🔭, which will produce about 20 terabytes of data 💽 every night https://b612foundation.org/chelyabinsk-and-the-changing-landscape-of-planetary-defense/
Chelyabinsk and the Changing Landscape of Planetary Defense - B612
It has now been over a decade since the Chelyabinsk event. Like last year and the year before that, February 15th is marked within our organization, and many witnessed its aftermath as the day humanity woke up to the threat of asteroids. While NASA, B612,...
It took 225 years ⏳ to find the 1.5 million #asteroids ☄️ known to date. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory 🔭 @VRubinObs will double this number in less than a year. ⏱️ https://www.heise.de/en/news/Simulation-New-telescope-soon-to-detect-millions-of-objects-in-the-solar-system-10425160.html
Most Venusian co-orbitals are nearly #invisible from Earth because they often remain in the #Sun’s glare ☀️. “While surveys like those from the #RubinObservatory 🔭 @VRubinObs may be able to detect some of these #asteroids ☄️ in the near future, we believe that only a dedicated observational campaign from a space-based 🌌 mission near #Venus could potentially map and discover all the still ‘invisible’ potentially #hazardous asteroids” https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/05/is-venus-hiding-a-deadly-threat-asteroids
Carl B. Latro@spaceflight @VRubinObs Is anyone keeping track of the things we need to worry about?
@BLatro yes, Richard Moissl : https://spacey.space/@spaceflight/114160908203430596
Spaceflight 🚀 (@[email protected])
Richard Moissl, head of #ESA’s #PlanetaryDefence office, 54:00 : We have a blaringly obvious blind spot. Something like #Chelyabinsk ☄️💥 could happen any moment right now, we wouldn't have any prewarning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8njR4413hok #AsteroidThreat
The Thirty-Meter Telescope 🔭 has been planned to be built on Mauna Kea in #Hawaii since 📆 2014, intended to be the largest optical #telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. The #NSF no longer wants to support the construction https://www.heise.de/en/news/The-end-of-the-Thirty-Meter-Telescope-US-Congress-to-stop-giving-money-10424963.html
One of the two very large #telescopes the #NSF was helping fund will be cancelled (say goodbye to the Thirty Meter Telescope). "Access to the telescopes 🔭 at #KittPeak* and #CerroTololo** will be phased out," and the NSF will transfer the facilities to other organizations https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/us-science-is-being-wrecked-and-its-leadership-is-fighting-the-last-war
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitt_Peak_National_Observatory
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Tololo_Inter-American_Observatory
"Planet-killing #asteroids ☄️ impact the earth every 50 million years. The last one impacted 65 million years ago, so we're 15 million years overdue for another one. The scenario of a #comet on a collision 💥 course with the earth is utterly probable - indeed, certain."
But she says we just need to "keep calm and don't panic", because #clever people like her 👩🔬 are working on it. "This is not a signal to start buying pasta 🍝 and hoarding toilet rolls 🧻" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-59939577
The research group estimates the #meteorite ☄️ crater's age to be a maximum of 10,000 years https://www.heise.de/en/news/Previously-overlooked-900-meter-meteorite-crater-discovered-in-southern-China-11082721.html
