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
“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.
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
@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/
"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
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
