Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites—ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through Earth's atmosphere. Among meteorites, one ...

Only 30%-50% of the remaining objects survive the atmospheric passage and become meteorites. The debris pieces whose orbits bring them closer to the Sun tend to be significantly more durable, making ...

NASA’s Lucy mission is about to fly past asteroid Donaldjohanson, a strange, elongated rock in the main belt. While this ...

Usually, what springs to mind when you think of the world’s most expensive substances are gold, silver, and platinum. However ...

Before hitting the Earth, rocks traveling through space are ... So, the OSIRIS‑REx mission ventured to the asteroid Bennu to retrieve an unaltered sample. Retrieving this sample allowed ...

Carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu as seen from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return spacecraft. Credit: NASA For a long time, scientists assumed that the Earth’s atmosphere filtered out ...

The Southwest Research Institute-led Lucy mission is preparing to survey the next target in its epic 4-billion-mile, 12-year, 11-asteroid tour. On April 20, 2025, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will fly past ...

As you watch the night sky, streaks of light often flash for a moment, then disappear. These brilliant flashes—called ...