Asteroids

An artist's illustration shows the James Webb Space Telescope peering out into the solar system toward the asteroid belt.

Astronomers Detect the Smallest Main Belt Asteroids Ever Found by Repurposing a Technique for Exoplanet Discovery

An unusual approach to spotting tiny asteroids uses James Webb Space Telescope data in a boost for planetary defense research

This image of the Geminid meteor shower, as seen from China, earned first place in the 2021 astrophotography contest by the International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy Education.

How to Watch the Geminid Meteor Shower This Weekend

The peak of this popular annual meteor shower risks being washed out by an almost full moon this year—but stargazers can still spot shooting stars if they follow the right tips

Smithsonian magazine’s top science titles this year.

The Ten Best Science Books of 2024

From a deep dive on a fatal space shuttle disaster to a study of a dozen iconic trees, these are our favorite titles this year

A stock illustration of an asteroid near Earth. Astronomers believe our "mini-moon" originated from the Arjuna asteroid belt.

Earth Bids Goodbye to Its 'Mini-Moon' as Astronomers Investigate Where Our Planet's Asteroid Companion Came From

Preliminary research suggests asteroid 2024 PT5, which stuck around Earth for almost two months, has lunar origins

A rock layer showing the S2 impact tsunami bed with chunks of ripped-up seafloor

A Giant Meteorite Ripped Up the Seafloor and Boiled Earth's Oceans 3.26 Billion Years Ago. Then, Life Blossomed in Its Wake

Geologists suggest the catastrophic impact of "S2" delivered key nutrients to the oceans, prompting microorganisms to thrive

The Perseid meteor shower over Inner Mongolia, China, on August 14, 2023. When a meteor falls to the ground, it's called a meteorite.

Astronomers Uncover the Origin of Most of Earth's Meteorites, Shedding Light on Our Solar System's Past

Prior to the new research, scientists had traced the source of just 6 percent of the known meteorites that fell on our planet

A worker of the fungus-farming ant species Mycetophylax asper, collected in Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2014, on its fungus garden

Ants Farmed Fungi in the Wake of Dinosaurs’ Demise 66 Million Years Ago

A new study from Smithsonian scientists analyzes ant and fungus species, and uncovers the origins of their close partnership

An illustration of an asteroid and the moon orbiting Earth.

Earth Is Getting a New 'Mini Moon' for the Next Two Months, Astronomers Say

A roughly 33-foot-long asteroid called 2024 PT5 will chart a horseshoe-like path around our planet

An illustration of Earth with a ring.

Did Earth Once Have a Ring Like Saturn? Geologists Find Evidence for a Halo of Orbiting Space Rocks 466 Million Years Ago

A ring could explain a mysterious arrangement of impact craters near the equator and might even have caused an ice age, according to a new study

Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and is even wider than the planet Mercury.

An Ancient Asteroid Smashed Into Jupiter's Moon Ganymede and Tipped It Over, Study Finds

The cataclysmic impactor was 20 times the size of the rock that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth

When an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, it wiped out some 80 percent of the planet's animals, including all of the non-avian dinosuars.

Asteroid That Ended the Dinosaurs Came From Beyond Jupiter, Study Finds

Metal isotopes delivered to Earth by the asteroid reveal it's consistent with space rocks formed in the outer solar system

An artist's illustration of the WISE spacecraft in orbit around Earth. The mission was renamed NEOWISE in 2013 to reflect a new focus on finding near-Earth objects.

NASA Retires Orbiting Telescope That Charted Asteroids for Over a Decade

NEOWISE, which looked for potentially hazardous objects in the solar system, received its last command on Thursday and will burn up when it re-enters Earth's atmosphere

The tinfoil-covered vial at right holds about four grams of an asteroid brought to Earth from deep space. It may also hold the key to how life began here. The vial at left holds ground-up quartz that will act as a control in chemical investigations.

Inside Scientists’ Quest to Find the Secrets of Life in Four Grams of Asteroid Dust

NASA researchers are scrutinizing rocks and dirt brought to Earth from the asteroid Bennu

Rainforests, like this one in Ecuador, only appeared after the mass extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs.

No, Dinosaurs Did Not Trudge Through Thick Rainforests

The first jungles dense with flowering plants only formed after an asteroid impact wiped out the giant creatures

Asteroid impacts and volcanism have led to mass extinctions on our planet.

Has Life on Earth Survived More Than Five Mass Extinctions?

Scientists aren’t just arguing whether humans are causing a sixth mass extinction event now, but whether many more occurred in the past

The European Space Agency's Planetary Defense Office tracks and observes near-Earth objects passing by our planet, such as those shown in this illustration. 

Two Massive Asteroids Will Fly Past Earth This Week. Here's What to Know

Within 42 hours of each other, the pair of large asteroids, which both have no chance of impacting our planet, will approach Earth as they orbit the sun

The Milky Way spreads across the night sky above the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. 

This Revolutionary New Observatory Will Locate Threatening Asteroids and Millions of Galaxies

Beginning next year, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will use the world’s largest digital camera to give us a whole new view of the universe

An angled view of the solar system with main asteroid belt discoveries in green and near-Earth objects in light blue.

Scientists Discover 27,500 Asteroids in Old Telescope Images Using A.I.

While most of the team’s new finds are located in the main asteroid belt, about 100 are near-Earth asteroids that pass close to our planet's orbit

An illustration of the DART spacecraft next to the asteroid, Dimorphos, and the larger asteroid it orbits, Didymos.

Asteroid Hit by NASA Spacecraft Was Reshaped by the Collision, Study Finds

Instead of forming a crater, the agency's intentional DART crash redistributed massive amounts of the asteroid and shot large quantities of rock into space

Data from the retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint venture between NASA and the German Space Agency, led scientists to their discovery.

Scientists Detect Water on the Surface of Asteroids for the First Time Ever

Using data from a retired NASA mission, researchers identified unique signs of water molecules on two space rocks, unlocking new insight into how water may have arrived on Earth

Page 1 of 8