A bright and long-lasting fireball was observed and recorded over northern Italy on January 1, 2020. After a thorough trajectory analysis and informing the public of potential meteorite fall in the Cavezzo region, Modena province, two pieces of the fresh meteorite…
Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, has been dramatically dimming recently, indicating that it's about to enter its last phase of life before finally exploding into a supernova. Some scientists believe that Betelgeuse may be ready to go…
Quadrantid Meteor Shower is predicted to peak at around 08:20 UTC on January 4, 2020, favoring observers in North America. The first-quarter moon will set shortly after midnight, leaving fairly dark skies for what could be, weather permitting, a good show this year….
January 3 – Moon at First Quarter – 04:46 UTC. The Moon will be prominent in the evening sky, setting around midnight. At this time in its monthly cycle of phases, it appears almost exactly half illuminated. January 4 – Quadrantid Meteor Shower. This is an…
Asteroid 2019 YV4 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.98 LD / 0.00251 AU (375 490 km / 233 319 miles) on December 25, 2019. This is the 76th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance in 2019. 2019 YV4 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and was first…
Solar Orbiter — a joint NASA/ESA mission will launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at 04:30 UTC on February 6 (23:30 EST, February 5). The spacecraft will provide the first views of the Sun's unexplored polar regions from high-latitudes, giving…
Russia's space agency Roscosmos revealed its plans to establish an observatory on the Moon that is capable of tracking asteroids that can potentially threaten Earth. The lunar facility will work with orbiting satellites to spot dangerous space rocks, and its…
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 YU2 flew past Earth at 19:28 UTC on December 23, 2019 at a distance of 0.26 LD / 0.00066 AU (98 734 km / 61 350 miles). This is the 75th known asteroid to flyby Earth since the start of the year. 2019 YU2 belongs to the…
Two newly discovered asteroids designated 2019 YS and 2019 YB flew past Earth within 1 lunar distance on December 18, 2019. Since the start of the year, our sky surveys have discovered a total of 75 <1LD asteroids. 2019 YS flew past us at a distance of 0.17 LD /…
Analysis of the impact craters on the asteroid Ryugu using Hayabusa 2's remote sensing image data has revealed the geological history of the near-Earth object. The research team, led by assistant professor Naoyuki Hirata of the Department of Planetology at Kobe…
