New subsurface imaging and rock samples suggest that Silverpit Crater formed from an impact that occurred roughly 45 million years ago.
asteroids
Posted inNews
Hayabusa2’s Final Target is 3 Times Smaller Than We Thought
It also spins twice as fast as previous estimates suggested. A spacecraft touchdown will be challenging, but not impossible.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Are There Metal Volcanoes on Asteroids?
Upcoming NASA observations may reveal whether ferrovolcanism shaped 16 Psyche’s metallic surface and hidden interior.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Rubin Observatory Stuns and Awes With Sprawling First Look Images
Wow. Just wow.
Posted inNews
The Late, Great Gaia Helps Reveal Asteroid Masses
Astronomers are using data from the recently decommissioned star-mapping satellite to help determine masses and more accurate orbits of celestial bodies closer to home.
Posted inNews
A Geologic Map of the Asteroid Belt
Scientists leveraged a global camera network and doorbell cameras to track dozens of meteorites to their asteroid families.
Posted inNews
Asteroid Samples Suggest a Solar System of Ancient, Salty Incubators
The discovery of salty mineral evaporites on Ryugu indicates that watery environments may have been widespread in the early solar system.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Ceres’s Organics Might Not Be Homegrown After All
Scientists have been unable to determine whether the dwarf planet’s organics were produced by its own chemical processes or delivered by asteroids. New evidence implicates asteroids.
Posted inNews
Life’s Building Blocks Found in Bennu Samples
The discovery of amino acids, abundant ammonia, and the bases of DNA and RNA on asteroid Bennu suggest that materials essential to life might be widespread throughout the solar system.
Posted inNews
Magnetic Meteorites May Explain How the Solar System Assembled
Faint magnetic properties in primitive asteroid fragments suggest an early magnetic field strong enough to shepherd the growth of the outer planets.