ESA Explains Jupiter Asteriod Clash

Image via Wikipedia

Two weeks ago, there's a buzz in the web about the video of an asteroid hitting planet Jupiter. The said video was caught by a Filipino astronomer.

Well, here is the explanation of European Space Agency (ES)A based on the findings of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble telescope sheds light on mystery Jupiter flash - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Asteroid 24 Themis as a Space Gas Station?

Image by FlyingSinger via Flickr

The discovery of water compounds on the asteroid 24Themis brought a possibility of having a space gas station for manned space flights. Water can easily be converted to hydrogen fuel through a simple electrolysis or can be purified to be used as drinking water for the astronauts.

Today's space mission carries a lot of supplies from the earth (i.e water) which makes the rocket payload much heavier. Having a water supply on or along the way to the destination will be a big reduction on the weight of the space craft and the power requirement of the rocket that will carry it.

The challenge though lies in the fact that the gravity on 24 Themis is far less than that of the Earth. It will be a real challenge on how extract water from the lonely asteroid.

Read the full story on the link below.
Yahoo News-24 Themis

Asteroid Will be Close to Earth by 2011

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An asteroid was spotted to be of close distance to Earth last April 19. The 400 mm size Asteroid 2005 YU55 orbits the sun in an orbit close to earth. For this year however, the distance poses no threat. Last April 19, the asteroid pass by the earth in a distance of 2.4 Million kilometers, about six times the distance between the Earth and the moon.

In 2011 however, the distance will be much closer. The asteroid is predicted to be as close as 308, 000 kilometers, or about eight-tenths of the distance between the Earth and the moon. According to the astronomers, the 2011 encounter would still be harmless to the Earth though they will still keep track of its position in case a possible collision may occur in the future.

For the full story, see the article below.

SPACE.com -- Potentially Dangerous Asteroid Spotted Passing Earth

Could Asteroids Be Earth's Water Origin?

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The theory that asteroids crashing with the Earth nearly four billion years ago could have been the seed to Earth's water seems to get more consideration recently. The new attention came after a team of astronomers found organic compounds in an asteroid.

The asteroid named 24 Themis situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter was found to be coated with thin layer of frost.

Is this evidence will be the final touch on the old theory? What questions are still unanswered and what explanations we have so far?

Read the entire article below for the full story.

Ice asteroids likely source of Earth's water: study - Yahoo! News