NEOROCKS in Horizon Magazine
Hot of the press! Our own Ettore Perozzi from the Italian Space Agency was interviewed for the Horizon Magazine. Have a look here at what he had to say about “how do we know if an asteroid headed our way is dangerous?” and about what NEOROCKS is doing to assess the threat of near earth objectives in rapid time. Photo by Elena Mozhvilo
NEOROCKS @ 7th IAA PDC Conference 2021
The 7th IAA Planetary Defense Confererence will be held (online) on April 26-30, 2021. Hosted by UNOOSA in collaboration with ESA, the bi-annual conference brings together world experts to discuss the threat to Earth posed by asteroids and comets and actions that might be taken to deflect a threatening object. Our NEOROCKS partners will be there of course! Fabrizio Bernardi from Spacedys will
Asteroid named after Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre
A very special asteroid has been named after Liliana Segre (born 1930), an Italian Holocaust survivor, Senator for life since 2018. The object is the minor body 75190, which holds the same concentration camp number that she was assigned in Auschwitz and that is tattooed on her forearm. “75190 Segreliliana” is a main belt asteroid with a 1498 m diameter, a
What are the chances of an asteroid hitting us?
Ever wondered about the risk of asteroids hitting earth? What are the chances? What potential impact? If you speak Italian, listen to Ettore Perozzi from the Italian Space Association (ASI) explaining the odds of such an impact and what scientists are doing to defend our planet. There is a mention of our NEOROCKS project too!
Amazing week for Asteroid research!
This week, NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft completed its “tag-and-go” manoeuvre to collect surface rock from asteroid Bennu. This is an amazing achievement, reported all over the world. We’ve collected some great press articles for you, so you can find out more about this mission and why it is so important: Official NASA Oxiris Rex Page (In English) BBC News “Elation as Nasa's Osiris-Rex probe
Would you be a good asteroid observer?
The 24th of July was a busy night at the Tenerife Observatory. Join the ESA challenge and try to spot the 3 asteroids that were visible that night. Among them, you’ll see the previously unknown 2020 OM3. You have until the 25th of September to prove your hunting skills. Follow this link to check the images up close and see if you
Let’s learn about Near Earth Asteroid groups!
More than 7 months into our project, you all know what Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are and if not, here’s where you can find out: https://www.neorocks.eu/lets-learn-about-asteroids/
NEOROCKS @Europlanet Science Congress
The Europlanet Science Congress is the largest planetary science meeting in Europe and NEOROCKS will be there! We just found out today that our abstract has been accepted - congratulations NEOROCKERS! This year for the first time, EPSC2020 will be held as a virtual meeting. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, attendees will not be able to meet in Granada as foreseen.
Gaia and Asteroids
ESA’s Gaia mission was launched in 2013 to construct a three-dimensional map of our galaxy. Here at NEOROCKS we are interested, because Gaia can also be useful when it comes to asteroids! While scanning the sky and mapping the stars, Gaia might spot moving targets. Some of these will be bodies that have already been detected previously. Others could be a new
The ASTEROID that went by – what does it really mean?
At the beginning of June (on the 5th to be precise), the largest asteroid this year passed between the Earth and the moon. You might have heard a few people talking about in during Asteroid Day ? The asteroid is called 2020 LD and it has an estimated equivalent diameter of between 63 and 200 m (this means that it is