Peanuts! Get your peanuts here! The Solar System has been passing out peanuts lately in the form of two different oddly shaped asteroids that recently passed by Earth, and both look like over-sized peanuts. The latest peanut-shaped asteroid pass was on September 16, 2024, when the near-Earth asteroid 2024 ON came within 1 million kilometers (62,000 miles) of Earth (2.6 times the Earth-Moon distance). Radar imaging revealed the asteroid was peanut-shaped because it is actually a contact binary – which means it is made of two smaller objects touching each other. NASA says the two rounded lobes are separated by a pronounced neck, and one lobe about 50% larger than the other.
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Rocket Lab aborts launch of 5 'Internet of Things' satellites at last second (video)
Rocket Lab's Electron vehicle appeared to fire up briefly today (Sept. 18) before shutting down, resulting in a launch abort.
Did Mars Once Have a Third, Larger Moon?
We are all familiar with our one Moon but other planets have different numbers of moons; Mercury has none, Jupiter has 95 and Mars has two. A new paper proposes that Mars may actually have had a third larger moon. Why? The red planet has a triaxial shape which means it bulges just like Earth does but along a third axis. The paper suggests a massive moon could have distorted Mars into this shape.
NASA's 'Hidden Figures' women awarded Congressional Gold Medals
Though they may never shed the label, the women who worked for NASA as human computers during the space race are no longer "hidden figures," and they now have Congressional Gold Medals to prove it.
The Early Universe Had a Lot of Black Holes
The Hubble Deep Field and its successor, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, showed us how vast our Universe is and how it teems with galaxies of all shapes and sizes. They focused on tiny patches of the sky that appeared to be empty and revealed the presence of countless galaxies. Now, astronomers are using the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field and follow-up images to reveal the presence of a large number of supermassive black holes in the early Universe.
'Transformers One' is an end of summer sensation certain to please fans (review)
Paramount's new all-CG animated 'Transformers' film delivers a dynamic origin story for the shapeshifting robots from outer space.
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket experiences abort as its Rutherford engines began firing, prior to liftoff
Right before Rocket Lab’s 53rd Electron rocket lifted off from its Launch Complex-1 in Mahia, New Zealand, the vehicle experienced a T-0 abort. The engines began firing as expected at T-2 seconds, but the vehicle remained on the pad. Image: Rocket Lab via launch livestream
Update Sept. 18, 9:47 p.m. EDT: Rocket Lab noted the scrub was due to “a ground systems sensor trigger.”
The largest volcano on Mars may sit above a 1,000-mile magma pool. Could Olympus Mons erupt again?
A low-density, weak-gravity region has been found below Olympus Mons and the Tharsis volcanoes, while Mars' northern hemisphere is littered with puzzling high-gravity structures beneath the surface.
2nd Kuiper Belt? Our solar system may be much larger than thought
Eleven objects found at the extremities of the solar system could mark the location of a 'Kuiper Belt 2.'
AI is on the hunt for dark matter
The secrets of dark matter might be hiding in the immense cosmic crashes that are colliding galaxy clusters.
SETI Scientists Scan TRAPPIST-1 for Technosignatures
If you are going to look for intelligent life beyond Earth, there are few better candidates than the TRAPPIST-1 star system. It isn’t a perfect choice. Red dwarf stars like TRAPPIST-1 are notorious for emitting flares and hard X-rays in their youth, but the system is just 40 light-years away and has seven Earth-sized worlds. Three of them are in the potentially habitable zone of the star. They are clustered closely enough to experience tidal forces and thus be geologically active. If intelligent life arises easily in the cosmos, then there’s a good chance it exists in the TRAPPIST-1 system.
Earth had Saturn-like rings 466 million years ago, new study suggests
Earth may have had a Saturn-like ring system long ago, created from the debris of a passing asteroid that our planet tore apart.
A Star Was Kicked Out of a Globular Cluster by an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole
Astronomers have solid evidence for the existence of stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes. However, evidence for Intermediate Black Holes (IMBHs) is more elusive. Their existence remains hypothetical.
'Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy' is a fabulous multiverse frolic (review)
A review of Disney+ miniseries, "Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy."
NASA scientists solve mystery of curious 'spiders' on Mars
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recreated spider-like araneiform terrain, a geologic formation found on Mars, in a lab on Earth.
Best-ever 'Cloud Atlas' of Mars showcases stunning cloud patterns (photos)
The most comprehensive map of clouds on Mars includes a variety of cloud patterns, including some that are unlike anything seen on Earth.
Black Hole's Colossal Jets Pierce the Cosmic Void
A pair of black hole jets powered by a supermassive black hole span far beyond their host galaxy — potentially affecting the cosmic web around it.
Black hole blasts largest jet ever seen at 23 million light-years long
Astronomers have seen the largest jets ever found erupting from a black hole. The giant jet system Porphyrion is 23 million light-years long, equal to 140 side-by-side Milky Way galaxies.
'Space for Birds': Astronaut Roberta Bondar captures avian habitats from Earth, in air and on orbit in new book (interview)
Roberta Bondar knew that she would not be able to hear birds, let alone seen them from space, but when she really thought about it, their absence struck her deeply.
Behold! 1st-ever photo of Earth and Mars' moon Phobos captured from Red Planet
NASA's Curiosity rover has captured a spectacular sight from the surface of Mars: The first-ever photo of Earth alongside the Red Planet's moon Phobos.
