solar system
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Astronomers Think a Near-Earth Asteroid Is a Chunk of the Moon
Every April for the next several hundred years, a small asteroid is visible to a select few telescopes on Earth. That asteroid is Kamo’oalewa, a space rock that a team of astronomers says is likely an ancient fragment of our Moon.
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Bizarre ‘Bone’ Asteroid Is Even Weirder Than We Imagined
Astronomers have captured the best images yet of Kleopatra, a 270 km-long asteroid nicknamed the “dog-bone” on account of its unusual shape. The latest observations are offering fresh insights into the object’s shape and precarious spin and how its moons likely came into existence.
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Astronomers Spot Two Unusually Red Objects in the Asteroid Belt
They’re red, they’re reasonably big, and they have no business being in the main asteroid belt, but their discovery confirms the complex conditions in place when the solar system was still forming.
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Incoming Visitor From the Oort Cloud Could Be Among the Largest Comets Ever Documented
An object of unusual size will make its closest approach to the Sun in 2031, during which time it will swing past the orbit of Saturn and possibly turn into an exceptionally large comet. Astronomers are already looking forward to the potential “fireworks” display.