Related papers: Don't Forget To Look Up
We describe systematic ranging, an orbit determination technique especially suitable to assess the near-term Earth impact hazard posed by newly discovered asteroids. For these late warning cases, the time interval covered by the…
As of mid-2026, 11 objects have been discovered prior to impacting the Earth, with warning times between 2 - 20 hours. Using real metre-sized Earth impactors from the last decade, we ask the question: ``If the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's…
Supernova explosions are one of the most energetic--and potentially lethal--phenomena in the Universe. Scientists have speculated for decades about the possible consequences for life on Earth of a nearby supernova, but plausible candidates…
Asteroid 2024 BX1 was the eighth asteroid that was discovered shortly before colliding with the Earth. The associated bolide was recorded by dedicated instruments of the European Fireball Network and the AllSky7 network on 2024 January 21…
We present a fireball detected in the night sky over Kyoto, Japan on UT 2017 April 28 at ${\rm 15^{h}\,58^{m}\,19^{s}}$ by the SonotaCo Network. The absolute visual magnitude is $M_{\rm v}$=$-$4.10$\pm$0.42mag. Luminous light curves obtain…
ESA's Flyeye telescope is designed with a very large field of view (FoV) in order to scan the sky for unknown near-Earth Objects (NEOs). For typical exposure times of 40 s, the telescope is able to detect objects with a limiting magnitude…
We propose to use a modest fraction of the re-purposed Kepler mission time and apertures to greatly increase the quantity and quality of our knowledge of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) rotation and shape. NEAs are important for understanding…
In the Nice model, the late heavy bombardment (LHB) is related to an orbital instability of giant planets which causes a fast dynamical dispersion of a transneptunian cometary disk. We study effects produced by these hypothetical cometary…
We estimate the total population of near-Earth objects (NEOs) in the Solar System, using an extensive, `Solar System to pixels' fake-asteroid simulation to debias detections of real NEOs by the ATLAS survey. Down to absolute magnitudes…
We study the dynamical and collisional evolution of Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) in Main Belt-crossing orbits (NEACs). We select NEACs with H < 18 and integrate their orbits for 1e7 yr with N-body simulations. Objects are grouped by initial…
In laboratory experiments we determine the mass gain and loss in central collisions between cm to dm-size SiO2 dust targets and sub-mm to cm-size SiO2 dust projectiles of varying mass, size, shape, and at different collision velocities up…
We present a review of the literature on the subject of a possible collision between the Earthand a meteorite or comet. We emphasize the global effects when sufficient energy is involved.We propose several types of human actions adapted to…
Based on telescopic observations of Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), there is predicted to be a paucity of objects at sub-kilometre sizes. However, several bright fireballs and some meteorites have been tenuously linked to the JFC population,…
Impact ejecta with velocities exceeding the escape velocity of planetary bodies become meteorites and dust particles in interplanetary space. We present a new method that allows simultaneous measurement of the size and velocity of the…
The asteroids are the major source of potential impactors on the Earth today. It has long been assumed that the giant planet Jupiter acts as a shield, significantly lowering the impact rate on the Earth from both cometary and asteroidal…
About 10% of the observed asteroids have rotational periods lower than P = 3 h and they seem to be relatively close to the spin barrier. Yet, the rotation has often been neglected in simulations of asteroid collisions. To determine the…
The recent publication by Siraj & Loeb (2021; Nature Scientific Reports 11, 3803) attempts to revive the debate over whether the Chicxulub impactor was a comet or an asteroid. They calculate that ~20% of long-period comets impacting Earth…
Processes such as the solar wind sputtering and micrometeorite impacts can modify optical properties of surfaces of airless bodies. This explains why spectra of the main belt asteroids, exposed to these `space weathering' processes over…
Using a fully autonomous spacecraft - Bering - we propose to detect and study sub-km asteroids from an orbit within the asteroid Main Belt. The main purpose of the proposed Bering mission is to detect a statistically significant sample of…
The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission is a NASA observatory designed to discover and characterize near-Earth asteroids and comets. The mission's primary objective is to find the majority of objects large enough to cause severe…