by Sebastian | Sep 18, 2019 | Cool Rocks, Interstellar
On August 30, 2019, amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov made a fascinating discovery when he detected a comet set on a rather odd path. From his very own MARGO observatory located in Crimea, Borisov spotted Comet C/2019 Q4 approximately 3 AU from the Sun. The Minor...
by Sebastian | Mar 16, 2019 | Cool Rocks, Solar System
16 Psyche is an M-type asteroid residing in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. In other words… it is one of the ten most massive asteroids in the belt, over 120 miles (200km) in diameter, and the most massive known M-type asteroid. Italian astronomer Annibale...
by Sebastian | Jan 1, 2019 | Cool Rocks
Ultima Thule is a Trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper Belt nearly four billion miles away from the Sun. It was discovered on June 26, 2014 using the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a search for target objects for the New Horizons mission. New Horizons...
by Sebastian | Dec 29, 2018 | Cool Rocks
Bennu is a potentially hazardous c-type (carbonaceous) asteroid discovered on September 11, 1999. Around 75% of known asteroids are c-types. It is listed on the Sentry Risk Table, which monitors and analyzes celestial objects on a near-Earth trajectory, predicting...
by Sebastian | Nov 16, 2018 | Cool Rocks, Interstellar
Using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory published a new study regarding our interstellar visitor from afar, ‘Oumuamua, in the Astronomical Journal. The study affirms the size and spherical diameter of...
by Sebastian | Nov 6, 2018 | Cool Rocks, Interstellar
Appropriately named after the Hawaiian word meaning “a messenger from afar arriving first,” ‘Oumuamua is the first known interstellar object ever observed, and it’s quite an interesting (not so) little rock. It was discovered on October 19, 2017 when...
