Related papers: Asteroid 2023 NT1: A Cautionary Tale
Comet 3I/ATLAS, also known as C/2025 N1, was discovered on 2025 July 1 UT by NASA Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), with a v$_{\infty}$ $\sim$ 58 kms$^{-1}$. This is the fastest among the three interstellar objects…
We present a practical and effective method of planetary defense that allows for extremely short mitigation time scales if required as well as long time scale mitigation. This one system allows for virtually any required defense mode. In…
In the last decades Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) have become very important targets to study, since they can give us clues to the formation, evolution and composition of the Solar System. In addition, they may represent either a threat to…
The catalog of km-sized near-Earth objects (NEOs) is nearly complete. Typical impact monitoring analyses search for possible impacts over the next 100 years and none of the km-sized objects represent an impact threat over that time…
Summary: In the past decade both scientists and laymen have probably heard at least once through the newspapers, TV and Internet that a new asteroid has been discovered with non-zero (sometimes "high") probability of collision with the…
We present an analysis of new and published data on P/2013 R3, the first asteroid detected while disintegrating. Thirteen discrete components are measured in the interval between UT 2013 October 01 and 2014 February 13. We determine a mean,…
We have calculated the coherence and detectable lifetimes of synthetic near-Earth object (NEO) families created by catastrophic disruption of a progenitor as it suffers a very close Earth approach. The closest or slowest approaches yield…
We report spectropolarimetric and broadband polarimetric observations of the near-Earth asteroid 2025 FA22 during its close approach of 18 September 2025 (about two Moon distances). With a diameter estimated between 130 and 290 m, 2025 FA22…
We present comprehensive photometric characterisation of 2025 FA$_{22}$, a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) discovered on 29 March 2025 and observed during the seventh International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) coordinated campaign.…
Asteroids that could collide with the Earth are listed on the publicly available Near-Earth object (NEO) hazard web sites maintained by the US and European space agencies (NASA and ESA). The impact probability distribution of 69 potentially…
The population of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) shows a large variety of objects in terms of physical and dynamical properties. They are subject to planetary encounters and to strong solar wind and radiation effects. Their study is also…
Earth is bombarded by meteors, occasionally by one large enough to cause a significant explosion and possible loss of life. Although the odds of a deadly asteroid strike in the next century are low, the most likely impact is by a relatively…
Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) in the 1-100 meter size range are estimated to be $\sim$1,000 times more numerous than the $\sim$15,000 currently-catalogued NEAs, most of which are in the 0.5-10 kilometer size range. Impacts from 10-100 meter…
Imminent impactors are natural bodies discovered in space before impacting the Earth. They provide a rare opportunity to characterize individual near-Earth objects (NEOs) in great detail as asteroids in space, meteors in Earth's atmosphere…
Fifteen orbital clusters (associations) were identified among ~20000 near Earth asteroids (NEAs). All associations were found with a high statistical reliability using a single linkage cluster analysis algorithm and three orbital similarity…
Recently discovered asteroid 2024 YR$_4$ has an orbital period of almost exactly 4 years, a descending node located almost exactly 1 au from the Sun, with a perihelion slightly less than that. Its combination of semi-major axis and…
We report a detection of a faint near-Earth asteroid (NEA), which was done using our synthetic tracking technique and the CHIMERA instrument on the Palomar 200-inch telescope. This asteroid, with apparent magnitude of 23, was moving at 5.97…
We describe observations and physical characteristics of Earth-crossing asteroid 2024 YR$_4$, discovered on 2024 December 27 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System. The asteroid has semi-major axis, $a$ = 2.52 au,…
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…
Determining the size and orbital distribution of the population of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is the focus of intense research, with the most recent models converging to a population of approximately $1000$ NEAs larger than 1 km and up to…