Our Solar System suddenly feels a little more cluttered, with NASA's Near-Earth Object mission having just released a year's worth of survey data, putting a bunch of new space rocks on our radar.
Most of the asteroids, comets, and general clumps of cosmic dandruff are too far away to be considered a threat to our planet, but NASA will be sure to keep a close eye on 10 objects that thinks could be big and near enough to be considered a hazard.
As the name suggests, NASA's Near-Earth Orbit Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) is an orbiting telescope that looks for objects in our Solar System with orbits that could bring them close to our planet.
In 2010, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft ran low on coolant for its telescope, so researchers scaled down the mission to scan the skies closer to home rather than looking all over the cosmos.
After entering a brief two-year nap in 2011, the spacecraft was reactivated, and has since characterised a total of 693 near-Earth objects. Of those, 114 had never been seen before.
This past year alone, NEOWISE has discovered 5 new comets, 64 main belt asteroids, and 28 near-Earth objects.
It found these by using its low infra-red bandwidth telescope to snap 2.6 million images of the sky.
A new technique called tail-fitting has now allowed researchers to use the database of images to model comet behaviour as they sweep through the Solar System.
"Comets that have abrupt outbursts are not commonly found, but this may be due more to the sudden nature of the activity rather than their inherent rarity," says Emily Kramer from NASA's Jet Propulsion... Read more
Most of the asteroids, comets, and general clumps of cosmic dandruff are too far away to be considered a threat to our planet, but NASA will be sure to keep a close eye on 10 objects that thinks could be big and near enough to be considered a hazard.
As the name suggests, NASA's Near-Earth Orbit Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) is an orbiting telescope that looks for objects in our Solar System with orbits that could bring them close to our planet.
In 2010, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft ran low on coolant for its telescope, so researchers scaled down the mission to scan the skies closer to home rather than looking all over the cosmos.
After entering a brief two-year nap in 2011, the spacecraft was reactivated, and has since characterised a total of 693 near-Earth objects. Of those, 114 had never been seen before.
This past year alone, NEOWISE has discovered 5 new comets, 64 main belt asteroids, and 28 near-Earth objects.
It found these by using its low infra-red bandwidth telescope to snap 2.6 million images of the sky.
A new technique called tail-fitting has now allowed researchers to use the database of images to model comet behaviour as they sweep through the Solar System.
"Comets that have abrupt outbursts are not commonly found, but this may be due more to the sudden nature of the activity rather than their inherent rarity," says Emily Kramer from NASA's Jet Propulsion... Read more