Asteroids

By looking at the Moon, the most complete and accessible chronicle of the asteroid collisions that carved our young solar system, a group of scientists is challenging our understanding of a part of Earth’s history.

On December 31, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft entered into orbit around the asteroid Bennu, and made Bennu the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft.

The asteroid will fly safely past Earth on Saturday, Dec. 22, at a distance of about 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers).

Recently analyzed data from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed water locked inside the clays that make up its scientific target, the asteroid Bennu.

On New Year's Day 2019, NASA's New Horizons will fly by a distant Kuiper Belt Object—and open a new chapter in how we define our place in the cosmos.

As OSIRIS-REx closes in on its target destination, the asteroid Bennu, anticipation is building for the first-ever, closeup glimpse of this prominent clump of rock. Meet a few members of our team.

Here’s a lineup of the various kinds of small bodies that orbit the Sun and sometimes impact planets and each other.

Small worlds witnessed dramatic changes in our solar system that occurred long before humans. Here's how we're studying them.

NASA will host a live Science Chat at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 7, to discuss upcoming encounters of two of the agency’s planetary missions, New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system's earliest chapter.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system's earliest chapter. Here are some great shots from its extended mission in the main asteroid belt.

NASA has given approval for the implementation and 2021 launch of the Lucy spacecraft to the Trojan asteroids.

The path through the solar system is a rocky road. Asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects—all kinds of small bodies of rock, metal and ice are in constant motion as they orbit the Sun. But what’s the difference between them? Why do these miniature worlds fascinate space explorers so much?

OSIRIS-REx searched the area around Bennu (circled in green) for any signs of dust plumes, which could present a hazard to the spacecraft, For now, the coast is clear.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will host a live Science Chat Friday, Sept. 7, on what NASA's Dawn spacecraft, nearing the end of its 11-year mission, has taught us about the early solar system.

OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid, survey the surface, collect a sample and deliver it safely back to Earth. The spacecraft has traveled approximately 1.1 billion miles (1.8 billion km) since its Sept. 8, 2016, launch and is scheduled to arrive at Bennu on Dec. 3.

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies enters its third decade of predicting possible impacts.

It’s a big solar system out there, and it’s filled not only with planets and moons, but also with hundreds of thousands smaller chunks of rock and ice. Most of these asteroids and comets orbit the Sun without ever coming near Earth, but impacts can happen. For decades, NASA has been on the lookout for any that could harm planet and, in the thousands of objects found, determined that none poses a threat to Earth. Tune in to learn about how we hunt for asteroids and comets that might threaten Earth.

Three of the world's largest radio telescopes have revealed that a near-Earth asteroid discovered last year is actually two objects, nearly equal in size, orbiting each other.

Five things we know and five things we don’t know about the first confirmed interstellar object to pass through our solar system.

'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to travel through our solar system, got an unexpected boost in speed and shift in trajectory last year, a new study shows.

JAXA confirmed Hayabusa2, JAXA's asteroid explorer rendezvoused with Ryugu, the target asteroid.

A new multiagency report outlines how the U.S. could become better prepared for near-Earth objects—asteroids and comets whose orbits come within 30 million miles of Earth—otherwise known as NEOs.

Asteroid 2018 LA entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 9:44 a.m. PDT (12:44 p.m. EDT, 16:44 UTC), and later disintegrated in the upper atmosphere near Botswana, Africa.

Data from NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft was used to create an in-depth analysis of more than 100 asteroids.