Questions tagged [asteroids]
Questions regarding relatively small rocky bodies in an orbit around the Sun.
19
questions
1
vote
0
answers
50
views
Last Thursday's mile-wide asteroid that missed: what angle would it have hit?
Last Thursday, the Planetary Defense Force(!) watched not one, but TWO asteroids miss us again. The same day.
They were each improbable for different reasons: one was closer than the moon, and one was ...
-2
votes
0
answers
23
views
Why don't they used pulsed masers for planetary mapping instead of radar?
Like at mars and venus. It seems like it would be higher resolution.
-1
votes
1
answer
119
views
Does a football field size asteroid really fall past the moon once a week?
Here in The Future, we have a Planetary Defense Force. And they have a 3D asteroid simulator that shows thousands of dangerous rocks moving in 3D real time.
Somehow, on the graphics screen, you can ...
4
votes
3
answers
143
views
How can ultraviolet planetary images help us in research?
Recently I was browsing through Ultraviolet images clicked by Cassini, Galileo and Hubble Space Telescope on OPUS and though they all seemed quite attractive, I couldn't quite figure out what all ...
3
votes
2
answers
114
views
What is the difference between an Active Asteroid and a Jupiter Family Comet?
Yeah, obviously one is an asteroid and one a comet, duh; but what does really differentiate them? I've read that active asteroids have an asteroid-like orbit, but what does that mean? Thanks in ...
8
votes
1
answer
203
views
Basics of Tracklet-less Heliocentric Orbit Recovery (THOR) - simple breakdown of how it works?
The New York Times's April 30, 2024 Killer Asteroid Hunters Spot 27,500 Overlooked Space Rocks begins:
With the help of Google Cloud, scientists churned through hundreds of thousands of images of the ...
2
votes
2
answers
126
views
What exactly was "The curse of Sisyphus" and why did it take so long to find out about the radar detection of its companion?
This answer to First satellite of an asteroid (or double asteroid) ever imaged by delay-Doppler radar? mentions that Wikipedia's 1866 Sisyphus; Binary system says:
In 1985, this object was detected ...
1
vote
1
answer
47
views
Range for Radius and Mass of Solar bodies
I'm trying to build a table with the Min and Max Radius and Mass of Solar bodies. In order to get data to be able to random generate other solar systems. This is a basic exercise, I'm pulling data ...
1
vote
1
answer
71
views
Smallest asteroid 2015 TC25
If I'm not mistaken, the smallest asteroid 2015 TC25 was discovered in 2015 and is about 2 meters across. After that discovery, the division size between asteroids and meteoroids was revised from 10 m ...
7
votes
1
answer
173
views
Why are lunar craters preferentially north-south aligned?
Loading the dataset from Robbins 2018, A New Global Database of Lunar Impact Craters >1–2 km: 1. Crater Locations and Sizes, Comparisons With Published Databases, and Global Analysis which I ...
3
votes
1
answer
159
views
How much mass did the Late Heavy Bombardment add to Mars?
How much mass was deposited on a terrestrial planet during the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB)?
Is it possible to estimate a reasonable interval, specifically, for Mars?
Could the mass addition to Mars ...
3
votes
1
answer
372
views
Extinction Level Event (Asteroid Impact Hypothesis) Likelihood Equation
We have the Drake Equation that calculates the probability of intelligent ET (extraterrestrials/aliens).
Since the asteroid impact hypothesis has been more or less accepted as the cause of the K-Pg ...
3
votes
1
answer
264
views
Are there any estimates of the Roche Limit for 152830 Dinkinesh?
The Lucy spacecraft recently flew past the asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh on its way through the asteroid belt and photos show that Dinkinesh has a moon consisting of a contact binary.
(Image is Public ...
12
votes
3
answers
5k
views
If the Earth had another moon would it be better protected from asteroids?
Would the moons get struck by asteroids instead of the Earth or would the moons attract more asteroids and make it more likely the planet gets hit?
15
votes
1
answer
550
views
What's the reason for the hollow region in Oort cloud?
Can someone please tell what caused the hollow space (pointed by yellow arrow) in the Oort Cloud?
I understand that it is called cloud because the cluster of objects does not align with the major ...