SpaceRocks - LOOK UP

12/07/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bq38Vc6Zx/

We boost UK prosperity, understand the Universe, and protect our planet and outer space.

04/07/2025

Visitors always welcome in this Solar System (apart from Trump's US, of course, who will likely find it too expensive to be looking).

Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of a rare celestial visitor: a comet from beyond our Solar System.Officially named 3I/ATLAS, this newly identified interstellar object is only the third of its kind ever observed, following the famous 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

10/05/2025

Update on the return of Kosmos 482. The calculated impact is now 1840UTC on 10th May, along the track shown below. With an uncertainty of +/- 90 minutes, the location could lie anywhere on the tracks shown.
Moscow lies on the track ... we can only hope it goes home to Mama

01/05/2025

For you this morning, something more unusual .. but no less alarming. The USSR remains as irresponsible now as pre-1989. Russia will not accept ownership of this POOS. We can only hope it returns 'home' safely.

The spacecraft was designed to survive falling through Venus's atmosphere. 53 years after launch, it's coming back.

25/02/2025

As expected, 2024 YR4 is no longer a 'city-killer', 'planet-destroyer' or even a worry, at least for the foreseeable future. We can go back to making the planet uninhabitable on our own.

The latest analysis from the European Space Agency (ESA) Planetary Defence Office has reduced the probability that asteroid 2024 YR4 might impact Earth in 2032 to 0.001%.

20/02/2025

Update 19/02/2025
https://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2025/02/19/2024-yr4-surpasses-apophis-as-riskiest-asteroid-ever-detected/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIkbEpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSSHQdLn6V0wq8dYzkgF-OcrrwWVHC9ES1QVbS4F3CQGUNt_UYbMmowT4g_aem_C64n155Cdkzajxn-J-sZpg

News from the edge of gravity

01/02/2025

https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_actively_monitoring_near-Earth_asteroid_2024_YR4
Some current concern around 2024 YR4 .. should it arrive, and on time, it will be a pretty spectacular Christmas present.
The chances of impact will be shaped over the coming months and years as IAWN (the Asteroid Warning Network) tightens the trajectory.

The European Space Agency (ESA) Planetary Defence Office is closely monitoring the recently discovered asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a very small chance of impacting Earth in 2032. This page was last updated on 29 January 2025.

16/05/2024

Apophis arriving in 2029 .. 32,000 km altitude is just inside Geostationary Orbit (GEO), which could be a little disruptive and more than a little interesting.

An ideal opportunity for some serious rock-watching and missions to learn more about these cosmic wanderers.

We are assured, however, that Apophis will not impact Earth.

Attendees at an ESA conference said asteroids as large as Apophis rarely fly this close to the Earth, making it an unmissable opportunity.