A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 LD flew past Earth at a distance of 0.80 LD / 0.00205 AU (306 675 km / 190 559 miles) at 08:25 UTC on June 5, 2020. This is the 45th known and the largest asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of…
ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft passed through the ion tail of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on May 31 and June 1, 2020, and through its dust tail on June 6. This is the 7th space mission to fly through the tail of a comet, and the first one whose upcoming crossing was…
Astronomers have detected a new type of cosmic explosion that has the characteristics of a supernova and a gamma-ray burst– two of the most powerful outbursts in the universe. In 2018, astronomers spotted a cosmic blast that has a strange behavior– dubbed the…
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft has created a map of electric currents around Mars, five years after it entered into its orbit. These currents hold crucial clues in the atmospheric loss that made the red planet incapable of supporting life. "These currents play a…
Astronomers at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (UH IfA) have spotted a new asteroid with a comet-like tail moving in the same orbit as Jupiter. These objects are usually called Trojan asteroids, but this one was described to be the first one…
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that its Solar Orbiter probe will have a rare encounter with the Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), passing through the object's ion tail on May 31, 2020 into June 1. Solar Orbiter’s upcoming crossing is the first to be…
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 KC5 will flyby Earth at a distance of 0.96 LD / 0.00248 AU (371 002 km / 230 530 miles) at 20:46 UTC on May 29, 2020. This is the 44th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and…
A bright fireball exploded over northern Turkey around 17:35 UTC (20:35 LT) on Wednesday evening, May 27, 2020. The American Meteor Society (AMS) received three reports, including from a witness in Tbilisi, Georgia. Based on the AMS' trajectory, the fireball…
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 KF5 will flyby Earth at a distance of 0.64 LD / 0.00165 AU (246 836 km / 153 377 miles) at 12:49 UTC on May 28, 2020. Another newly-discovered asteroid — 2020 KJ4 — will flyby us just 32 minutes later. However, as far…
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 KJ4 will flyby Earth at a distance of 0.37 LD / 0.00096 AU (143 613 km / 89 237 miles) at 13:20 UTC on May 26, 2020. This is the 42nd known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and…
