Asteroids, Comets and Meteors
Return to home
160Mil BC
A collision likely occurred in the asteroid belt orbiting the sun about
100 million miles from Earth. One of these asteroids was later named
Baptistina. In 2007 US and Czech researchers used computer simulations
to calculate that there was a 90 percent probability that the collision
of two asteroids, one about 105 miles wide and one about 40 miles wide,
was the event that precipitated the Earthly disaster of 65Mil BC, when
an asteroid hit the Earth on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. They said
another fragment likely created the Tycho crater on the moon at about
110Mil BC.
(Reuters, 9/5/07)(SFC, 9/6/07, p.A14)(Econ, 9/8/07,
p.81)
65.3Mil BC About this time a comet struck the area of
the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and created a crater, known today as
Chicxulub, about 150-180 miles (200 km) in diameter. The area at this
time was covered by ocean. The asteroid was initially believed to have
been 6-12 miles (10 km) in diameter. It left a thin layer of iridium in
rock strata around the world. Evidence for this was gathered by Luis
Alvarez. The asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, about 80% of the world’s
plants species and all animals bigger than a cat. In 2002 it also was
estimated to have wiped out 55-60% of the plant-eating insects. A high
oxygen level may have contributed to a worldwide firestorm. In 1997
Walter Alvarez published "T. Rex and the Crater of Doom," an account of
this critical event. The impact was estimated at 5 billion times
greater than the atomic bombs of WW II. In 2007 US and Czech
researchers used computer simulations to calculate that there was a 90
percent probability that the collision of two asteroids in 160 Mil BC
was the event that precipitated the Chicxulub disaster. In 2008 new
research using an osmium isotope indicated that the responsible
asteroid was about 2.5 miles wide.
(SFC, 2/18/96, p.A3)(SFEC, 8/17/97, BR p.7)(NH,
9/97, p.85)(SFC, 2/25/02, p.A4)(WSJ, 3/2/04, p.B1)(Reuters,
9/5/07)(SFC, 4/12/08, p.A4)
50000BC Arizona’s Barringer Crater was created about
this time by a meteor. Named after mining engineer Daniel Barringer, it
measures 3/4 of a mile wide and 640 feet deep and is suspected to have
resulted from a meteor of about 100 feet in diameter. An iron meteor
100 feet in diameter and weighing about 60,000 tons crashed into the
desert at about 45,000 miles per hour near Winslow, Az. A crater 4,000
feet wide and 570 feet deep was created. 85% of it melted and the rest
broke into bits called Canyon Diablo meteorites.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A7)(www.barringercrater.com/science/)
36CE Ancient Chinese records
recorded an August meteor shower that was later assumed to be the
Perseids. The meteorites originated when the Swift-Tuttle comet passed
so close to the sun that its ice head melted and left a stream of
pea-sized particles.
(SFC, 8/11/99, p.A2)
66CE Jan 26, The 5th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
(MC, 1/26/02)
141 Mar 20, The 6th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
(MC, 3/20/02)
607 Mar 13, The 12th recorded
passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
(HN, 3/13/98)
760 May 22, The 14th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
(MC, 5/22/02)
837 Apr 13, Best view of Halley's
Comet in 2000 years.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1061 Apr 24, Halley's Comet
inspired an English monk to predict that England would be destroyed.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1066 Mar 23, The 18th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1490-1491 Chinese, Japanese, and Korean astronomers
reported a bright comet for 48 nights during the mid-winter weeks of
these 2 years. An Italian astronomer again saw its sunlit debris in
1825 and it became known as the Quadrantid meteor shower. It was later
cataloged as 2003EH_1. In 2003 it was related to a star explosion over
500 million earlier.
(SFC, 12/31/03, p.A2)
1492 Nov 7, A meteorite landed in
Ensisheim, Germany. Emperor Maximilian visited Ensisheim 15 days after
the fall and ordered that the Ensisheim meteorite be preserved in the
local church. A piece of the stone was put up for auction in 2007.
(www.meteorite.fr/en/basics/history.htm)(Econ,
10/27/07, p.96)
1673 Jul 24, Edmund Halley entered
Queen's College, Oxford, as an undergraduate.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1676 Geminiamo Montanari, Italian
astronomer, documented a meteor with a sound “like the rattling of a
great Cart running over Stones.” It was later understood that meteors
can detectable generate radio waves.
(NH, 7/02, p.38)
1679 Nov 3, A great panic occurred
in Europe over the close approach of a comet.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1682 Sep 4, English astronomer
Edmund Halley saw his namesake comet.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1794 Ernst Chladni, German
scientist, proposed that meteorites were masses of iron-rich
extraterrestrial rock, which occasionally penetrated the earth’s
atmosphere to strike the surface.
(ON, 7/02, p.5)
1801 Jan 1, Giuseppi Piazzi
(d.1826), Italian astronomer, discovered an asteroid orbiting between
Mars and Jupiter. He believed it to be a planet and named it Ceres
(goddess of the harvest).
(NH, 7/02, p.36)
1802 Edward Howard, English
chemist, determined that the iron in meteorites was a unique blend of
iron and nickel that did not occur in known terrestrial rocks.
(ON, 7/02, p.5)
1802 Heinrich Olbers, German
astronomer, discovered an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter,
He believed it to be a planet and named it Pallas after Pallas Athena
(goddess of wisdom and war).
(NH, 7/02, p.36)
1803 Apr 26, Villagers of L’Aigle,
France, witnessed a meteor shower. The rocks helped to convince
scientists that meteors were of extraterrestrial origin.
(ON, 7/02, p.5)
1807 Dec 14, A number of
meteorites fell onto Weston, Connecticut.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.122)
1819 Jul 4, William Herschel made
his last telescopic observation of an 1819 comet.
(Maggio, 98)
1826 Jul 22, Giuseppe Piazzi (80),
monk, mathematician (found 1st asteroid, 1801), died.
(MC, 7/22/02)
1847 Oct 1, Maria Mitchell (29),
American astronomer living on Nantucket Island, discovered a new comet
that was named after herself. In 1848 she was elected to the American
Academy of Arts, the first woman to be so honored. Frederick VI, the
King of Denmark awarded her a gold medal for her discovery.
(HN, 10/1/98)(ON, 2/07, p.9)
1848 Apr 25, A. Graham discovered
asteroid #9: Metis.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1857 Jun 27, H. Goldschmidt
discovered asteroid #45, Eugenia.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1858 Jun 2, Donati Comet was 1st
seen and named after it's discoverer.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1858 Sep 28, Donati's comet became
the 1st to be photographed.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1864 A meteorite was found near
Orgueil, France, that was later believed to be a fragment of a comet.
It was later found to show traces of amino acids.
(SFC, 12/19/01, p.A8)
1872 May 12, J.C. Watson
discovered asteroid #121, Hermione.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)
1884 Jun 27, J. Palisa discovered
asteroid #237, Coelestina.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1885 Aug 30, Some 13,000 meteors
were seen in 1 hour near Andromeda.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1885 Nov 26, The 1st photograph of
a meteor was made.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1890 Apr 25, J. Palisa discovered
asteroids #291 Alice & #292 Ludovica.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1891 Jun 11, A. Charlois
discovered asteroid #311 Claudia.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1901 Jun 7, M. Wolf discovered
asteroid #471, Papagena.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1892 Edwin Holmes discovered Comet
17P/Holmes. On Oct. 23, 2007, the comet, which had been visible to
modern astronomers only with a telescope, suddenly erupted and
expanded, possibly due to sinkholes in its nucleus.
(AP, 11/4/07)
1906 Apr 25, J.H. Metcalf
discovered asteroid #599: Luisa.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1907 May 12, A. Kopff discovered
asteroids #633, Zelima, and #634, Ute.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)
1908 Jun 30, An explosion near the
Tunguska River in Siberia incinerated some 300 sq. km. that encircled
the impact of an estimated 60 meter diameter stony meteorite. It
flattened some 40,000 trees over 900 sq. miles and caused damage
equivalent to a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb. The explosion in Siberia,
which knocked down trees in a 30-mile radius and struck people
unconscious some 40 miles away, is believed by some scientists to be
caused by a falling fragment from a meteorite.
(NH, 9/97, p.85)(SFC, 3/12/98, p.A15)(HN,
6/30/98)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.123)
1909 May 13, A. Kopff
discovered asteroid #681, Gorgo.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1910 Apr 19, After weeks of being
viewed through telescopes, Halley's Comet was reported visible to the
naked eye in Curacao.
(AP, 4/19/00)
1910 Apr 21, Halley’s Comet was
visible in the night sky. Entrepreneurs peddled "comet gas masks" for
people worried about the Earth's passage through poisonous cyanogen gas
in the comet's tail.
(AP, 4/21/97)(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.B10)
1910 May 18, Passage of Earth
through tail of Halley's Comet caused near-panic.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1917 May 12, M. Wolf discovered
asteroid #870, Manto.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)
1929 Jun 11, G. Neujmin discovered
asteroid #1147 Stavropolis.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1930 Jun 27, P. Parchomenko
discovered asteroid #1166, Sakuntala.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1931 May 13, C. Jackson
discovered asteroid #1194, Aletta.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1932 Jun 11, E. Delporte
discovered asteroid #1222 Tina.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1934 May 13, C. Jackson
discovered asteroid #1320, Impala.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1935 Jul 2, C. Jackson discovered
asteroid #1357, Khama.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1935 Jul 25, C. Jackson discovered
asteroid #1641 Tana.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1935 Jul 28, G. Neujmin discovered
asteroid #1386 Storeria.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1936 Jul 25, G. Neujmin discovered
asteroid #3761.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1937 Jul 2, C. Jackson discovered
asteroids #1429, Pemba, & #1456, Saldanha.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1937 An asteroid was discovered
and named Hermes. It disappeared and was not seen again until 2003 and
found to actually be a pair of objects traveling together.
(SFC, 10/27/03, p.A4)
1938 Jun 24, A 500 ton meteorite
landed near Pittsburgh.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1938 Jul 28, K. Reinmuth
discovered asteroid #1485 Isa.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1944 May 17, D. du Toit (Harvard
College Observatory, Boyden station, Bloemfontein, South Africa)
discovered the comet, 66P/du Toit, on a photograph.
(http://cometography.com/pcomets/066p.html)
1947 Feb 12, A daytime fireball
& meteorite fell and was seen in eastern Siberia.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1949 Apr 25, E.L. Johnson
discovered asteroid #1922: Zulu.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1949 Jun 27, W. Baade discovered
asteroid #1566, Icarus.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1950 Jul 25, The Goethe Link
Observatory discovered asteroids #1799 Koussevitsky, #1822 Waterman
& #2842.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids_%281001-2000%29)
1950 Astronomer Fred L. Whipple
(1907-2004) proposed that comets consisted of ice with some rock mixed
in. His theory was validated in 1986 with observations of Haley’s comet.
(SFC, 9/1/04, p.B7)
1951 Jun 27, M. Itzigsohn
discovered asteroid #1588, Descamisada.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1951 Jul 25, L. Boyer discovered
asteroid #1714 Sy.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1952 Jul 25, Goethe Link
Observatory discovered asteroid #1788 Kiess.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1954 Nov 30, A meteorite struck
Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges of Alabama as she was sleeping on a couch. The
space rock was a sulfide meteorite weighing 8.5 pounds and measuring
seven inches in length. Mrs. Hodges was not permanently injured but
suffered a nasty bruise along her hip and leg. This was the 1st
modern report of a Meteorite striking a human.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1968 Jul 25, H. Wroblewski
discovered asteroid #1993 Guacolda.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1969 Feb 8, A meteor shower hit
Mexico creating a luminance in the night sky as bright as day. A
meteorite weighing over 1 ton fell in Chihuahua, Mexico.
(TMP, KCTS-Video, 1987)(MC, 2/8/02)
1969 May 13, Paul Wild,
Swiss astronomer, discovered asteroid #1775, Zimmerwald.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1775_Zimmerwald)
1969 Sep 28, The Murchison
Meteorite crashed into Australia. It was found to contain amino acids
and frozen ice.
(TMP, KCTS-Video,
1987)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murchison_meteorite)
1971 Jun 27, T. Smirnova, Russian
born astronomer, discovered asteroid #2121, Sevastopol.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_Mikhailovna_Smirnova)
1972 Aug 10, A 1 million kg. heavy
meteorite grazed the atmosphere above Canada.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1973 Mar 7, Dr. Lubos Kohoutek,
Czech astronomer, used a double exposure and discovered the comet
Kohoutek then 370 million miles from earth.
(NG, Aug., 1974,
p.223)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Kohoutek)
1973 Jul 4, Eleanor F. Helin,
American astronomer, discovered asteroid #5496.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids/5401%E2%80%935500)
1974 Jul 25, T. Smirnova, Russian
astronomer, discovered asteroid #2345 Fucik.
(http://tinyurl.com/4lx b4w)
1976 Jan 7, Eleanor Helin of
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. discovered the first near Earth asteroid
which she named Aten. The orbits of these asteroids lie mostly inside
that of the Earth and could at some date collide with the Earth.
(SFC, 2/1/97,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_F._Helin)
1977 Feb 15, W. Sebok discovered
asteroid #2491.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids/2401%E2%80%932500)
1978 Jan 6, The Wild-2 comet was
discovered by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild.
(SFC, 2/6/99,
p.A8)(www.solarviews.com/eng/cometwild2.htm)
1978 Jul 4, L.I. Chernykh
(b.1935), Russian astronomer, discovered asteroids #3332, #6110 &
#7730.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Chernykh)
1978 Jul 28, Perth Observatory
discovered asteroid #3188 and #3422.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1979 Apr 25, N. Chernykh,
Soviet-Russian, discovered asteroids #2656: Evenkia & #3653.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Stepanovich_Chernykh)
1979 Aug 30, The comet SOLWIND 1
first appeared on an image, at which time it was located 5.96 solar
radii from the sun. It has been commonly presumed that the comet either
hit the sun, or completely vaporized because of its near approach.
(http://cometography.com/lcomets/1979q1.html)
1980 Feb 15, Zdenka Vavrova, Czech
astronomer discovered asteroid #3592.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zde%C5%88ka_V%C3%A1vrov%C3%A1)
1980 Jun 11, E. Bowell discovered
asteroid #2531 Cambridge.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids/2501%E2%80%932600)
1981 Jul 2, L.E. Gonzalez
discovered asteroid #3495, Colchagua, from the astronomical station of
Cerro El Roble in Chile.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids_(3001-4000))
1982 Apr 25, E. Bowell discovered
asteroids #2688: Halley, #3275: Oberndorfer & #3692.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids/2601%E2%80%932700)
1983 Feb 15, Norman Thomas
discovered asteroid 3367 Alex, 3413 Andriana, 3525 Paul & 3580.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids/3301%E2%80%933400)
1983 Jun 7, A. Gilmore & P.
Kilmartin discovered asteroid #3152.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids_(3001-4000))
1984 Jun 2, B.A. Skiff discovered
asteroid #3617.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._A._Skiff)
1985 Jul 2, The European Space
Agency launched the Giotto space probe for a close-up of Halley’s
Comet. It made its closest approach to the comet on March 13, 1986.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A14)(http://tinyurl.com/2hnfnw)
1986 Feb 9, Halley's Comet reached
30th perihelion, its closest approach to Sun. 5 spacecraft from the
USSR, Japan, and the European Community visited Comet Halley in early
1986.
(http://tinyurl.com/nmhkd)(www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/halley.html)
1986 Mar 6, USSR's Vega 1 flew by
Halley's Comet at 8,890 km.
(www.iki.rssi.ru/ssp/vega.html)
1986 Mar 8, The Japanese probe
Suisei passed 151,000 kilometers (95,000 miles) from the nucleus of
Haley’s Comet.
(www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/comets/comet_halley.html)
1986 Apr 11, Halley's Comet made
its closest approach to Earth this trip at 63 M km.
(www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/01/01.html)
1986 Jul 4, E F Helin discovered
asteroid #3855 Pasasymphonia.
(http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=3855)
1992 Jul 10, The European Space
Agency photographed the nucleus of Haley’s Comet.
(SFC, 10/2/07, p.A6)
1994 May 5, The peak of the Eta
Aquarid meteor shower. It displayed 10-40 meteors per hour.
(PacDis, Spring/'94, p. 40)
1994 May 29, A great comet iceball
was seen above the North Sea.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1994 Jul 16, The first of 21
pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter. The comet was
initially discovered by astronomer Eugene Shoemaker (d.1997 at 69).
(HFA, '96, p.34)(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A21)(AP, 7/16/99)
1995 Jul 23, Two American amateur
astronomers first reported the discovery of the comet bearing their
names: Hale-Bopp. Reconstruction of the orbit indicated that the comet
repeatedly enters the inner solar system every 3,000 years or so. It
travels in an orbit perpendicular to the solar system in an elongated
ellipse that is about 33 million miles from the sun at its farthest
point. Its closest approach to Earth will be on Mar. 23, 1997. The
nearest pass will be on Apr 1.
(Nat. Hist., 3/96, p.55)(SFEC, 10/27/96, p.A17)
1996 Mar 26, The closest approach
of the Hyakutake comet, first sighted Jan 31. It was to come within
ten-million miles of the Earth.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.62)
1996 Apr 4, X-rays were found
coming from the Hyakutake comet by a teams of US and German scientists.
(SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 15, An asteroid about a
third of a mile across was detected and enroute to miss Earth by only
279,000 miles on 5/19/96. Timothy Spar and Carl Hergenrother discovered
the asteroid and named it 1996 JA-1. It was traveling at 10 miles per
second on a 4-year orbit around the sun.
(SFC, 5/19/96, p.A-2)
1996 May 19, In an astronomical
near hit, a large asteroid approached Earth within 281,000 miles, a
distance just greater than the moon, in a surprise to astronomers who
discovered it in midweek.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1997 Mar 4, Comet Hale-Bopp
directly above the Sun (1.04 AU).
(SC, 3/4/02)
1997 Mar 22, The Hale-Bopp comet
made its closest approach to Earth at 122 million miles. On Apr 1 it
will make its closest approach to the sun, perihelion, at some 85 miles
distance.
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.A12)
1999 Feb 7, The Stardust
spacecraft lifted off aboard a Delta II rocket for its 7-year journey
to gather particles from the Wild-2 comet.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A8)(SFC, 7/18/05, p.A4)
2001 Sep 23, NASA reported that
its Deep Space I craft took pictures of the comet Borrelly.
(SFC, 9/24/01, p.B2)
2001 Oct, A one-day workshop on
deflecting asteroids was held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in
Houston. The B612 Foundation formed soon thereafter to promote an
asteroid defense system. B612 is the asteroid home of the Little Prince
in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's child's story The Little Prince.
(SFCM, 10/8/06, p.13)(www.b612foundation.org)
2001 cDec 26, A 1,000 asteroid
dubbed 2001 YB5 was spotted approaching Earth. It passed within 400,000
miles of Earth on Jan 7.
(SFC, 1/9/02, p.A11)
2002 Feb 1, Comet Ikeya-Zhang was
discovered by 2 amateur astronomers in Japan and China. Its closest
approach to Earth was projected for Apr 30. It last flew into the solar
system nearly 350 years earlier.
(SFC, 3/23/02, p.A3)
2002 Jun 3, NASA launched the $159
million Countour space probe to study the composition of comets.
Scientists lost contact on Aug 15.
(SFC, 8/16/02, p.A6)
2002 Oct 8, Astronomers reported a
frozen object beyond Pluto some 800 miles across. They named it Quaoar,
after a creation force in Southern California Indian mythology. The
Asteroid 50000 Quaoar (2002LM60) was identified in the Kuiper Belt with
the Hubble telescope.
(ADN, 10/8/02, p.A4)(SFC, 12/30/02, p.A6)
2002 A group of scientists and
former astronauts formed the B612 Foundation, named after the home
asteroid of Saint Exupery’s little prince. Their goal was to develop a
way to alter the coarse of an asteroid using an ion rocket.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.80)
2003 May 9, Japan launched a
rocket carrying the Muses-C probe, which planned to make contact with
asteroid 1998 SF36 in June of 2005.
(SFC, 5/10/03, p.A7)
2004 Jan 2, The NASA Stardust
spacecraft took pictures of the Wild-2 comet tail and collected
particles on "aerogel," a silica foam 99.8% air, the lightest material
ever made.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A8)(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.A8)
2004 Mar 2, The European Space
Agency launched its Rosetta lander. It was intended to land on comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May, 2014.
(SFC, 7/18/05, p.A4)
2004 Mar 18, A 100-foot diameter
asteroid passed within 26,500 miles of Earth, the closest-ever brush on
record by a space rock.
(AP, 3/18/04)
2004 May 10, An asteroid
identified as 2004JG6 was observed inside Earth’s orbit and traveling
around the sun every 184 days.
(SFC, 5/31/04, p.A4)
2004 Sep 29, The asteroid
Toutatis, a few kilometers in diameter, came within 1½
million km. of Earth. It was 1st discovered in 1989.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.80)
2005 Jan 12, NASA launched its
Deep Impact spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was scheduled to
launch an 820-poind impactor vehicle at Comet Tempel-1 on July 4.
(WSJ, 1/13/05, p.D8)
2005 Jul 3, NASA’s Deep Impact
spacecraft collided with the comet Tempel 1, half the size of
Manhattan, creating a brilliant cosmic smashup that capped a risky
voyage to uncover the building blocks of life on Earth.
(Reuters, 7/4/05)(SFC, 7/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 12, Japan’s Hayabusa
probe successfully released its Minerva surface-exploring robot, but
Minerva appeared to start drifting away from the asteroid's surface.
The space agency said it is targeting actual landings on the
potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2006 Jan 15, The NASA space
capsule, Stardust, returned safely to Earth in a desert near Salt Lake
City with the first dust ever fetched from a comet, a cosmic bounty
that scientists hope will yield clues to how the solar system formed.
(http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/photo/er.html)(AP,
1/15/06)
2006 Aug 7, Robert McNaught of the
Siding Spring Observatory in Australia made the 1st sighting of a comet
that came to be called Comet McNaught.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.89)
2007 Sep 15, A meteorite made a
fiery crash to Earth in southern Peru and villagers were soon struck by
a mysterious illness.
(AFP, 9/17/07)
2008 Sep 5, Rosetta, the European
deep space probe launched in 2004, completed a flyby of the Steins
asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
(SFC, 9/7/08, p.A6)
2008 Nov 20, A meteor streaked
across the sky of the Canadian Prairies producing a fire ball that
shone brightly enough to be seen over an area 700 km (435 miles) wide.
Searchers soon found the remains of the 10-ton meteor.
(AP, 11/28/08)
2008 Dec 6, The Univ. of Hawaii
activated the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System
(PS1) to search for dangerous asteroids.
(Econ, 12/6/08, p.100)
2009 Mar 2, An asteroid named 2009
DD45, about the size of one that blasted Siberia a century ago, buzzed
by Earth. It measured between 69 feet and 154 feet in diameter and came
to 48,800 miles from Earth.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2014 May, The European launched
Rosetta lander, launched in 2004, was scheduled to land on comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
(SFC, 7/18/05, p.A4)
2061 Jul 28, 31st recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
(SC, 7/28/02)
2126 Aug 14, The comet
Swift-Tuttle is due back in the inner solar system. The annual Perseid
meteor shower is the train of debris from the comet.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A19)(SFC, 8/11/99, p.A2)
2880 Mar 16, The asteroid 1950 DA,
7/10 of a mile wide, was scheduled to pass within 250,000 miles of
Earth and had a 1 in 300 chance of hitting Earth.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A2)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Comet, Asteroid, Astronomy
End of file