Latest news with #LowellObservatory
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
China's Tianwen-2 mission launches to explore asteroid that may be a lunar fragment
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. China has launched an ambitious mission to study two intriguing objects in our solar system, the likes of which have never been visited by a spacecraft before. The Tianwen-2 mission launched aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province at 1:31 p.m. ET on Wednesday (1:31 a.m. Thursday local time in China), according to the China National Space Administration. Like Tianwen-1, which lifted off in July 2020 with two aims — delivering an orbiter and a rover to Mars — Tianwen-2 has two goals. The mission's initial goal is to fly by and collect the country's first samples from an asteroid. The space rock, called Kamoʻoalewa or asteroid 2016 HO3, may be a chunk chipped off the moon, which has become a 'quasi-satellite' near our planet. The spacecraft will spend one year flying to the asteroid and another year orbiting and assessing potential landing sites. After dropping off those samples at Earth via a capsule about 2 ½ years from now, the mission will then take seven years to reach an unusual object called main belt comet 311P/Pan-STARRS and conduct a flyby. Sometimes referred to as an active asteroid, the celestial object orbits between Mars and Jupiter and produces dusty, comet-like tails. Both Kamoʻoalewa and 311P/Pan-STARRS are incredibly interesting targets that stem from populations of objects that, up until a couple of years ago, astronomers barely knew existed, said Dr. Teddy Kareta, a postdoctoral associate of planetary science at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. 'Now we get to study them up close in a kind of detail that will really revolutionize our understanding of them and objects like them,' Kareta said in an email. 'Plus, any time we see a new kind of Solar System object for the first time with a spacecraft … it's like opening presents on your birthday. Whatever's underneath the wrapping paper, it's always exciting to see something for the first time and to try to do your best to understand it.' Astronomers first discovered Kamoʻoalewa in 2016 using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, or Pan-STARRS, telescope in Hawaii. Ben Sharkey, now a visiting senior faculty specialist at the University of Maryland, College Park, led a study published in November 2021 suggesting that the Ferris wheel-size asteroid may be a massive boulder ejected from the moon by an impact. The name Kamoʻoalewa comes from a Hawaiian creation chant that alludes to an offspring traveling on its own. It will be the smallest asteroid ever visited, measuring between 150 and 190 feet (46 and 58 meters) in diameter, said Dr. Patrick Michel, director of research exceptional class at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Michel also served as a coinvestigator on missions by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2, respectively — that returned asteroid samples to Earth. Bennu, the asteroid sampled by OSIRIS-REx, had a diameter similar to the height of the Empire State Building, or 1,614 feet (492 meters). Kamoʻoalewa is a quasi-satellite, a type of near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun but sticks close to Earth, coming within about 9 million miles (14.5 million kilometers) of our planet. 'Until Ben Sharkey … saw that it reflected light like the Moon, we didn't think there were chunks of the Moon out in near-Earth space,' Kareta said. 'The Moon's covered in craters, but who knew that the violent formation of those craters might toss tennis court sized rocks seemingly intact that we could find and study thousands or millions of years later?' Studying and sampling Kamoʻoalewa could help astronomers determine whether the space rock actually originated from the moon or if it just reflects light similarly, Kareta said. Kareta is also involved with a study led by Sharkey that will use the James Webb Space Telescope to study Kamoʻoalewa in more detail next year. 'If it's actually from the Moon, then we might be able to identify other lunar samples that have similar properties and help to get an idea of where it came from on the lunar surface,' Kareta said. 'If it just looks like the Moon but is actually from somewhere else, the sample will facilitate a radically more informed search for where Kamoʻoalewa actually came from.' The mission could also shed light on asteroids that can cause damage if they were to strike Earth. Kamoʻoalewa is comparable in size to the object that devastated Tunguska in Siberia over a century ago, Michel said. A roughly 98-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) asteroid struck the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in a remote Siberian forest of Russia in 1908, according to The Planetary Society. The event leveled trees and destroyed forests across 830 square miles (2,150 square kilometers). Orbiting and landing on such a small body is complicated, which is part of what makes the mission both interesting and risky, Michel said. 'To get into orbit, you really have to get very close, and even if you just follow it, the maneuvers remain very sensitive, because there's really very little gravity and its rapid rotation forgives no mistakes,' Michel said. 'Plus, the plan is to get a sample, so there are not many areas where the probe can land safely.' The space rock 311P/Pan-STARRS is one of the best-studied active asteroids, Kareta said. 'Even just (25) years ago, we didn't know there were active asteroids at all — scientists thought that only icy comets from the outer Solar System could produce comet-like tails, but it turns out that a couple of dozen asteroids do so as well without much or any ice involved,' Kareta said. Astronomers have come up with a number of hypotheses for why the object is throwing off dust, including posing the existence of pressure pockets that eject material and the idea that other objects could be impacting 311P/Pan-STARRS and releasing elements, Michel said. Flying by the active asteroid could show exactly what processes are creating the dusty tails streaming from the object and might reveal possibilities scientists haven't even considered, Kareta said. 'This will be the first time such an object is observed up close and we can determine which mechanism (there may be others) drives the activity,' Michel said. The data gathered by Tianwen-2 could enhance a wide range of studies of objects within the inner solar system, which includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt, Kareta said. 'There's a tremendous amount we don't know about either object,' Kareta said. 'I don't think any spacecraft has ever gotten to its target and not found at least a few big surprises — I'm sure some of our current understanding for either object is completely wrong, and I'm excited to see how.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Stargazers are flocking to AZ's 22 Dark Sky Places — and putting astrotourism on the map
Arizona is home to around 22 officially designated Dark Sky Places, making it one of the best spots in the country to look up and get lost in the night sky; however, that accomplishment didn't happen overnight. Flagstaff began safeguarding its skies in 1958 with outdoor lighting ordinances, setting the global standard for how to care for our skies. In 2023, Arizona received 45.7 million overnight visitors, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism. Since then, those numbers have continued to trend upward with the growing popularity of dark sky tourism, commonly known as astrotourism. Adding to its celestial reputation, Flagstaff's Lowell Observatory was recently named one of TIME's World's Greatest Places of 2025 after its expansion with the addition of the Marley Foundation Astronomy Discovery Center. This week on Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and Christian Luginbuhl, board president of the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition, and Josh Coddington, director of communications at the Arizona Office of Tourism, answer the question: How did Flagstaff become the world's first international dark sky city? Listen to Valley 101 on your favorite podcast app or stream the full episode below. Submit your questions to us about metro Phoenix and Arizona for a chance to be chosen for the podcast. Note: Valley 101 is intended to be heard, but we offer an AI transcript of the episode script. There may be slight deviations from the podcast audio. Subscribe to Valley 101 : Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher Follow Valley 101 and all azcentral podcasts on X, formerly Twitter, and on Instagram. Reach producer Abby Bessinger at or follow her on X, formerly Twitter @abby_bessinger This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona's 22 Dark Sky Places is driving an astrotourism boom
Time of India
06-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Scientists discover new minimoons orbiting Earth – what could this mean for our planet's future
For years, the space near Earth was assumed to be fairly well known, particularly in terms of detecting near-Earth objects (NEOs) like asteroids and debris. That perception is being turned on its head by new discoveries. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now According to a recent paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, there could be an undiscovered population of " minimoons "—small natural satellites—around Earth. And what is interesting about these objects is that some of them seem to be debris from the Moon itself. The research highlights the recently identified object 2024 PT5 , an asteroid-like body that shows lunar-like features such as orbital properties and compositional similarities with Moon rock. This finding by planetary scientist Teddy Kareta and his Lowell Observatory team opens up the thrilling possibility that numerous other such pieces are orbiting Earth in silence, leftovers from old lunar impacts. What are minimoons and their role in space science Minimoons are minor bodies temporarily held in Earth's gravity. In contrast to the Moon, which is a natural permanent satellite, minimoons have transient orbits—occasionally staying within the gravitational clutches of Earth for weeks, months, or years before finally breaking free again into solar orbit. Until recently, these objects were thought to be very rare. The first clearly established minimoon of possible lunar origin, Kamo'oalewa, was found in 2021. With the discovery of 2024 PT5, the story is emerging. Researchers are starting to see these objects not as oddities, but as possible members of a larger population that hasn't been seen because they are too small and have too complicated, changing orbits. New evidence suggests 2024 PT5 could be a piece of the moon The identification of 2024 PT5 is especially noteworthy due to its possible lunar origin. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Its path and spectral character—a method of determining an object's composition from the manner in which it scatters light—effectively mimic those of rocks brought back to Earth by NASA's Apollo missions. This heavily indicates that PT5 could be a piece that was ejected from the surface of the Moon, perhaps by a meteoric impact. Teddy Kareta emphasised the importance of the discovery at the 56th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, saying: 'If there were only one object, that would be interesting but an outlier. If there's two, we're pretty confident that's a population.' In other words, the confirmation of a second minimoon with lunar properties supports the idea that such objects are more common than previously believed. Understanding lunar debris: How high-energy impacts send moon fragments into Earth's orbit Lunar debris is usually created through high-energy impact events, in which meteoroids collide with the lunar surface and send debris into space. A portion of this debris may fall into the Earth's sphere of gravitational influence, becoming temporarily captured. They have chaotic, highly elliptical orbits that set them apart from both standard NEOs and Earth's main Moon. Simulations and tracking models imply that these fragments can be trapped for a few months to a few years, after which they will burn up in Earth's atmosphere, escape Earth's gravity, or be deflected by subsequent gravitational encounters. What minimoons can reveal The implications of minimoons from a scientific perspective are significant. Minimoons provide a one-of-a-kind chance to investigate the Moon's impact record without sending complex sample-return missions to the surface of the Moon. By analysing the composition of the minimoons, scientists can determine the nature of the rock, the age of the rock, and possibly trace it to a particular crater or region of geology on the Moon. This could greatly improve the knowledge of: Geological evolution of the Moon Rate and magnitude of lunar impact events Orbital dynamics of Earth-Moon interactions Kareta compared it to forensic science by saying: "It's like discovering a crime scene has a completely new type of evidence you didn't realise you had before." These pieces are actually natural sample-return missions already underway. From sample return to space mining: The strategic value of minimoons Aside from academic curiosity, minimoons also have significant potential for future missions of exploration. Because they are close and relatively slow-moving relative to other NEOs, they are prime targets for: Robotic spacecraft missions Sample return programs Experimentation with navigation and landing technologies for asteroid mining or deep space missions They provide a valuable stepping stone to deep-space exploration while also facilitating new types of resource analysis and planetary defense testing. 2024 PT5 highlights the need for advanced detection methods The detection of 2024 PT5 emphasises the necessity of more sensitive sky surveys and special observation programs. The majority of existing asteroid detection systems are optimized for discovering larger, brighter objects. Minimoons, being small and faint, need different methods and continuous monitoring in order to be discovered. The development of this capability would greatly improve our knowledge of not just minimoons, but also the dynamic interaction between Earth and its cosmic environment. Also Read |
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A whole 'population' of minimoons may be lurking near Earth, researchers say
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Earth's minimoon may be a chip off the old block: New research suggests that 2024 PT5 — a small, rocky body dubbed a "minimoon" during its discovery last year — may have been blown off the moon during a giant impact long ago, making it the second known sample traveling near Earth's orbit. The discovery hints at a hidden population of lunar fragments traveling near Earth. "If there were only one object, that would be interesting but an outlier," Teddy Kareta, a planetary scientist at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, said in March at the 56th annual Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference in the Woodlands, Texas. "If there's two, we're pretty confident that's a population." Earth travels through and with a cloud of debris as the planet makes tracks around the sun. Some of that material is human-made — satellites and space junk. Other material is rocky debris left over from collisions in the early solar system. These near-Earth objects (NEOs) can be a concern, so they are tracked to ensure they are not a threat to our planet. Related: Just how many threatening asteroids are there? It's complicated. In August 2024, astronomers in South Africa identified a new rock, known as 2024 PT5, traveling near Earth. 2024 PT5 was moving slowly, with a relative velocity of only 4.5 mph (2 meters per second), making it a strong target for the Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS). Only nine other asteroids have been seen traveling so slowly at their closest approach. Kareta, along with MANOS principal investigator Nick Moskovitz, also at Lowell, have been intrigued by the idea of finding moon rocks in space since just after the first such fragment was identified in 2021. MANOS is designed to hunt for and characterize the near-Earth asteroids that might be the easiest to visit with a spacecraft. According to Kareta, that meant the survey was ideal for looking at lunar castoffs. Within a week of 2024 PT5's discovery, they had turned the Lowell Discovery Telescope in the space rock's direction. After studying 2024 PT5 in both visible and near-infrared data, they concluded that it wasn't an ordinary asteroid. Its composition proved similar to that of rocks carried back to Earth during the Apollo program, as well as one returned by the Soviet Union's Luna 24. The researchers also found that 2024 PT5 was small — 26 to 39 feet (8 to 12 meters) in diameter. Kareta and his colleagues suspect that 2024 PT5 was excavated when something crashed into the moon. By studying the asteroid's composition, they hope to tie the material back to its source and perhaps even identify its parent crater. Cratering events are one of the most important processes that shape planetary bodies without tectonics or liquids to remold them. But impacts can be affected by a variety of variables, and understanding them can be a challenge. Matching debris to its crater can provide another way to understand what happens when two bodies collide. That's what makes identifying lunar rocks in space so intriguing. "It's like realizing a crime scene has a totally new kind of evidence you didn't know you had before," Kareta told by email. "It might not help you solve the crime right away, but considering the importance of the task, new details to compare are always welcome." Material from the Earth-moon system should be some of the easiest to fall into orbit near Earth. After an impactor collides with the moon, all but the fastest-moving material flung into space should continue traveling near our system. Although 2024 PT5 was dubbed a minimoon in September, it only briefly fell in line with the planet. Kareta compared it to two cars on the highway. Earth is blazing along in its own lane, while 2024 PT5 chugged along the interior path, closer to the sun. In 2024, the tiny chunk of rock changed lanes, falling into Earth's path at roughly the same speed. By the end of September, it had moved on, shifting outward. Earth left it behind, but on the solar race track, the pair should be parallel again in 2055, scientists estimate. 2024 PT5 is the second lunar fragment identified by researchers. Another small rock, Kamo'oalewa, was traced to the moon in 2021, five years after its discovery. That could hint at a new population, hidden in plain sight. Both objects are traveling in Earth-like orbits, but they don't have much else in common. Kamo'oalewa is larger and appears to have been battered by cosmic rays, solar radiation and other processes longer than 2024 PT5 has. That might suggest it has been in space longer, Kareta said. Their orbits are also a bit different. Kamo'oalewa's quasi-satellite orbit keeps it in Earth's immediate vicinity for several consecutive orbits, even though it isn't actually spinning around the planet. Unlike the lane-changing 2024 PT5, Kamo'oalewa is more like a car that stays one lane over, moving at roughly the same speed. Researchers are trying to match Kamo'oalewa to a crater. A recent study suggested that it could have come from a smashup that created Giordano Bruno crater, a 14-mile-wide (22 km) impact basin on the far side of the moon. Kareta is hopeful that more will be identified. While a single sample is an oddity, two could be part of a crowd. He suspects that some asteroids that have been identified as unusual may be lunar rocks in disguise. RELATED STORIES: —Goodnight moon! Astronomers snap photo of Earth's departing mini-moon —Earth's mini-moon has finally departed. Will it ever return as a 'second moon?' —Earth's recent asteroid visitor might've been a piece of the moon When the orbits of NEOs are calculated, their source region is often estimated based on their current travels. If some objects have been misclassified and their sources are incorrect, that could mean other aspects of their orbits are misunderstood. Although that could potentially increase the long-term chances of Earth being hit by an asteroid, Kareta said it is "almost certainly not" the case, "but we'll need to prove it." For now, Kareta and his colleagues will continue to use MANOS to search for other potential lunar fragments. He's hopeful that the doubled population will convince other researchers to take a closer look, too. Upcoming large-scale surveys — like the Vera Rubin Observatory, a ground-based telescope expected to see first light this year — should also help to reveal other dim objects. The research was published in January in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Forbes
20-04-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Lyrid Meteor Shower ‘Fireballs' To Peak Monday — Exactly When To Watch
The Lyrid meteor shower, one of the oldest known displays of shooting stars, is already underway and will peak overnight on Monday-Tuesday, April 21-22, with about 18 meteors per hour expected—including some super-bright fireballs. The Lyrid meteor shower runs from April 17-26 but will peak on the night of Monday, April 21, through Tuesday, April 22. According to the American Meteor Society, the peak is around 13:00 UTC on April 22 (08:00 a.m. EDT on April 22). The early hours after midnight — when any location on Earth is the darkest — is the best time to look up. Though its 'shooting stars' will appear to have come from the constellation Lyra in the eastern sky, they can appear anywhere in the sky. Lyra, centered on the bright star Vega, is rising in the northeastern night sky a few hours after dark this month. The later you look, the higher Lyra will be, and the more chance you'll have of a better display. 'View them after about 10:30 p.m. local time until dawn, with the best viewing around 5 a.m.,' reads a blog post published by NASA. 'The waning crescent moon will rise around 3:30 a.m. [local time], but at only 27% full, it shouldn't interfere too much with your meteor watching.' The Lyrids are best seen from the Northern Hemisphere but can also be seen from south of the equator. The number of meteors is hard to predict, and it can vary. 'About 10 years ago, the Lyrids had an unexpected outburst,' said Dr. Nick Moskovitz, expert astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in an interview. 'Nobody saw it coming, and we saw over 100 meteors per hour.' Most meteor showers are caused by dust and debris left in the inner solar system by a comet, but for the Lyrids, it's the rather mysterious C/1861 G1 (Thatcher). 'The Lyrids' parent comet is obscure; nobody knows much about it,' said Moskovitz. 'The last time it was in our neck of the woods in the solar system was back in 1861, and it won't be back around in this part of the solar system until 2283." Meteors are caused by small particles of rock and dust left in the inner solar system by a comet, entering Earth's atmosphere and burning up, releasing energy as photons of light. Fireballs are particularly bright meteors that can have a long train behind them. 'The Lyrids have a wide range of particle sizes, from talcum powder to grapefruit-sized particles,' said Moskovitz. 'They're unique due to the large particles left behind by Comet Thatcher.' The next meteor shower will be the Eta Aquarids, which runs from April 19 through May 28, peaking in the early hours of Monday, May 5, when around 40-60 shooting stars are expected per hour. The Eta Aquariids are the product of Halley's Comet. One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space. In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's Terms of Service. We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil. Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain: User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in: So, how can you be a power user? Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's Terms of Service.
