Asteroid 7335 LIVE — NASA says ‘potentially hazardous’ MILE-WIDE space rock makes ‘close approach’ to Earth at 29,000mph

Difference between asteroids, meteors, and comets, continued

When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids.

“Meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Think of them as ‘space rocks,’” Nasa reported.

Difference between asteroids, meteors, and comets

An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun.

They are “rocky, airless remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago,” Nasa reveals.

Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter).

But they can be found anywhere, including in a path that can impact Earth.

What distance will the asteroid pass us?

Asteroid 7335 will pass us at a distance of about 2.5million miles.

Live on two feeds

On its website, the VTP wrote, “We will show it live from Chile and Australia.”

The Chilean feed will begin at midnight UK time (7pm EST) on May 27 and the Australian stream will begin at 2pm UK time (9am EST) on May 27.

How to see Asteroid 7335

The Asteroid isn’t large or close enough to view with the naked eye, but it may be seen with a suitable telescope or an app like Stellarium, CNET reports.

However, if you don’t have the equipment to do so, the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy will be hosting an online viewing party, which can be accessed on their YouTube channel.

The search for alien life

Launched four years ago, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope designed to search for undiscovered worlds.

It’s searching an area of sky 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission, in a bid to find candidates that could host alien life.

Asteroid mining and NFTs?

Exploration Laboratories LLC, or ExLabs, an asteroid mining corporation, seeks to employ NFTs to explore space and mine asteroids, according to NFTEvening.com.

There is not much information, according to the website, but there will be more available soon regarding the cost of the NFTs and any official dates.

Did asteroids bring water to Earth? continued

As Space.com reports, according to Nasa’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), “It seems possible that the origin of life on the Earth’s surface could have been first prevented by an enormous flux of impacting comets and asteroids, then a much less intense rain of comets may have deposited the very materials that allowed life to form some 3.5 – 3.8 billion years ago.”

Did asteroids bring water to Earth?

Collisions that could kill people could be the reason we’re still alive today. Earth was parched and desolate when it was formed, according to Space.com.

Collisions between asteroids and comets may have brought water ice and other carbon-based chemicals to the planet, allowing life to emerge.

At the same time, the frequent collisions made it impossible for life to survive until the solar system stabilized.

Later collisions determined which species survived and which died.

Mining asteroids: Is it possible?

The prospect of collecting minerals from asteroids has piqued the interest of NASA, other space organizations, and commercial firms alike, according to Space.com.

One often touted resource that some are interested in harvesting from asteroids and the moon is water, which may be turned into rocket propellant to prevent spaceships from having to launch the weight of their return fuel.

Some people are also interested in extracting metals from asteroids, claiming that the asteroid belt holds enormous financial potential.

Others argue that making this strategy financially sustainable is more challenging.

What are Trojan asteroids?

These asteroids are in the same orbit as a bigger planet, but they don’t crash because they congregate around two specific spots – L4 and L5 Lagrangian points – in the orbit.

The Sun’s and the planet’s gravitational pulls are counterbalanced by a trojan’s proclivity to fly out of orbit.

The Jupiter trojans are the most numerous of the trojan asteroids.

They are estimated to be as abundant as asteroids in the asteroid belt.

There are trojans on Mars and Neptune, and in 2011, NASA reported the finding of an Earth trojan.

What is the Main Asteroid Belt?

The bulk of known asteroids orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt, with relatively short orbits.

There are between 1.1 and 1.9million asteroids bigger than one kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter in the belt, as well as millions of smaller ones.

The gravity of freshly created Jupiter stopped the development of planetary bodies in this region early in the solar system’s existence, causing the tiny things to smash with one another, fragmenting them into the asteroids we see today.

Types of asteroids: M-types

The M-type asteroids (nickel-iron) are made of metal. The compositional variations between asteroids are linked to how distant they originated from the Sun.

After they formed and partially melted, some endured tremendous temperatures, with iron sinking to the center and driving basaltic (volcanic) lava to the surface.

Types of asteroids: S-types

S-type (stony) asteroids are made up of nickel-iron silicate minerals.

Types of asteroids: C-Type

C-Type (chondrite) are the most common asteroids. They are most likely made up of clay and silicate rocks and have a black look. They are among the solar system’s oldest ancient things.

Even small asteroids can be dangerous, continued

Around 1,600 people were injured when that asteroid exploded, mostly as a result of broken glass from windows, according to NASA as cited by Newsweek.

The agency’s planetary defense officer Lindley Johnson said it was a “cosmic wake-up call.”

Even small asteroids can be dangerous

In February 2013, an asteroid that NASA previously described as “house-sized,” so relatively small next to Asteroid 2015 DR215, exploded in the skies, Newsweek noted.

It exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk after it entered Earth’s atmosphere at around 40,000 miles per hour, and released a shock wave that obliterated windows over 200 square miles when it exploded.

Asteroid mystery solved, continued

Currently, the theory is that Ryugu originated from debris left by the collision of two larger asteroids, but that doesn’t explain why the asteroid is so high in organic content, Newsweek noted.

New findings published in The Astrophysical Journal Letterssuggest Ryugu is, in fact, the remains of a dead or extinguished comet.

The new theory involves the comet losing its ice content in a way that could have ended up with it having the “unique characteristics” it does.

Lead author Miura told Newsweek: “Depending on whether Ryugu was originally an asteroid or a comet, it experienced a very different environment.”

“Asteroids formed in warm regions relatively close to the sun. On the other hand, comets formed in a cooler environment away from the sun.”

“To assume off the top of one’s head that Ryugu was originally an asteroid is to overlook the possibility that Ryugu may have been in a cold environment.”

Asteroid mystery solved?

Researchers may have “solved mysteries surrounding the origins of the spinning top-shaped asteroid Ryugu,” Newsweek reported.

In fact, it may actually be the remnants of a dead comet.

Space mission Hayabusa2 returned samples and images from the space rock Asteroid 162173, also known as Ryugu, in 2020.

It is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Objects Studies.

Data from that mission showed that the asteroid has a “spinning top shape,” and that it is “a loose pile of gravitationally bound rubble” with plentiful organic material.

What would happen if an asteroid hit Earth?

Depending on the size of the space rock, an asteroid impact on the Earth could be an extinction-level event, and researchers have created simulations to see just how bad it could be.

Not all asteroids would mean the end of humanity and, in fact, a space rock would have to be pretty large to kill us all.

If an asteroid the size of the one that likely killed the dinosaurs hit Earth today, things would instantly change due to the force of the impact and its knock-on effect on the environment.

What is a meteorite?

If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vaporize and becomes a meteor.

On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up, and it may look like a fireball or “shooting star.”

If a meteoroid doesn’t vaporize completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, however, it can land on Earth and becomes a meteorite.

Nasa monitors thousands of asteroids

Nasa has its eye on nearly 28,000 known near-Earth asteroids, and discoveries of new asteroids are said to go up by their thousands each year.

On that note, Nasa is hoping to launch its Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission in 2026.

Plans to save Earth, continued

Nasa said: “DART is the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.”

The DART craft should slam into a small asteroid called Dimorphos in September with the aim of moving it off course.

Plans to save Earth from an asteroid

Some experts are worried that Earth isn’t yet ready to defend itself from potentially deadly asteroids.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk once sparked concern by tweeting: “a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defense.”

Nasa is looking into some defence methods though.

It recently launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission.

What is the current asteroid count?

According to NASA, the current known asteroid count is 1,113,527.