Questions tagged [near-earth-object]

Questions regarding objects whose orbits bring them in close proximity to Earth, posing potential hazard.

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Why did the path of J002E3 pass through almost the same point four times?

In 2002–2003, an object called J002E3 passed close to the earth in a chaotic orbit. According to NASA CNEOS (Center for Near Earth Object Studies) the orbit looked like this: (This is a screenshot of ...
MJD's user avatar
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Do differentials in the Earth's density cause the flyby anomaly?

The flyby anomaly is an occasional, unpredictable, and as yet unexplained discrepancy in acceleration of satellites when they pass close by the Earth. It causes an increase of up to 13 mm/s during ...
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How does NASA estimate the size of the population of Near-Earth Objects (NEO) of diameter>140 meters?

In 2018, the US Congress passed a bill to allocate budgets and mission goals to NASA. Section 321 of that Bill mentions a goal for detection of NEOs of diameter >140 Km. Quote: (1) The George E. ...
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Was the recent blue spiral over Hawaii really a SpaceX rocket dumping fuel?

Is the observed phenomenon really consistent with a SpaceX rocket dumping fuel or decelerating or something? I'm skeptical. There are several things to discuss. The speed of the blue spiral is much ...
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Have any meteoroids been detected before they reached the Earth's atmosphere?

Once a meteoroid starts burning up in the atmosphere, it becomes a visible meteor. Have any meteoroids been detected before they started to burn in the atmosphere? If yes, what is the ballpark ...
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How scientists estimated the number of near-Earth supernovae over the last 11 million years?

According to this article on wikipedia, An estimated 20 supernova explosions have happened within 300 pc of the Earth over ...
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How does the rock Simurgh Saxum (-25.32°, 4.05°) on 101955 Bennu define its prime meridian and serve as the basis for its coordinate system?

Spaceref's NASA's "Tour of Asteroid Bennu" Selected for Prestigious Computer Graphics Film Festival says: It's hard to imagine what the surface of asteroid Bennu might look like - it's ...
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Will the United States Presidential Election (day asteroid) be back soon?

My google news feed is awash with mono-themed articles, including a near Earth asteroid that passed by around election day 2020 in the US. We can all hope that neither will lead to an extinction level ...
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How quickly can a ring system be made?

I've seen elsewhere that if a terrestrial planet had a ring system, it would be very difficult (if not impossible) for life to evolve due to the shadow the rings would cast on the temperate zone in ...
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How exactly does NEOSTEL's fly's eye telescope's secondary mirror array split the primary beam among sixteen cameras?

Wikipedia's NEOSTEL says: The Near Earth Object Survey TELescope (NEOSTEL - also known as "Flyeye") is an astronomical survey and early-warning system for detecting near-Earth objects sized ...
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