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2015 XF261
is a Near-Earth Aten asteroid with an estimated diameter of between and , with next closest approach occurring on 21 February 2025 at 16:25 UTC and closest approach of the 21st century occurring on 11 April 2090 at a nominal distance of . It completes one orbit around the Sun every 360 days. 2029 mission is the target for an asteroid-deflecting mission planned by China in 2029, launching in 2027, two years after its previous launch target of 2025. Its original target was . The spacecraft is planned to be launched on a Long March 3B in 2027, making a flyby of Venus before arriving at the asteroid in early 2029, and colliding with the asteroid in April 2029 at an estimated speed of . See also *Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), another asteroid-deflecting mission which collided with Dimorphos Dimorphos (formal designation (65803) Didymos I; provisional designation S/2003 (65803) 1) is a natural satellite or minor-planet moon, moon of the near-Earth object, near-Earth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Near-Earth Object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit around the Sun, rather than its current position, thus an object with such an orbit is considered an NEO even at times when it is far from making a close approach of Earth. If an NEO's orbit crosses the Earth's orbit, and the object is larger than across, it is considered a potentially hazardous object (PHO). Most known PHOs and NEOs are asteroids, but about a third of a percent are comets. There are over 37,000 known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and over 120 known short-period near-Earth comets (NECs). A number of solar-orbiting meteoroids were large enough to be tracked in space before striking Earth. It is now widely accepted that collisions in the past have had a significant role in shaping the geological and biological history of Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aten Asteroid
The Aten asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids whose orbits bring them into proximity with Earth. By definition, Atens are Earth-crossing asteroids . The group is named after 2062 Aten, the first of its kind, discovered on 7 January 1976 by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory. As of January 2025, 2,966 Atens have been discovered, of which 271 are numbered, 14 are named, and 197 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids. Description Aten asteroids are defined by having a semi-major axis (a) of less than 1.0 (AU), the roughly average distance from the |
Julian Day
The Julian day is a continuous count of days from the beginning of the Julian period; it is used primarily by astronomers, and in software for easily calculating elapsed days between two events (e.g., food production date and sell by date). The Julian period is a chronological interval of 7980 years, derived from three multi-year cycles: the Indiction, Solar, and Lunar cycles. The last year that was simultaneously the beginning of all three cycles was , so that is year 1 of the current Julian period, making AD year of that Period. The next Julian Period begins in the year AD 3268. Historians used the period to identify Julian calendar years within which an event occurred when no such year was given in the historical record, or when the year given by previous historians was incorrect. The Julian day number (JDN) has the same epoch as the Julian period, but counts the number of days since the epoch rather than the number of years since then. Specifically, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long March 3B
The Long March 3B (), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on liquid rocket boosters, it is the heaviest variant of the Long March 3 rocket family, and is mainly used to place communications satellites and navigation satellites into geosynchronous orbits. An enhanced version, the Long March 3B/E or G2, was introduced in 2007 to increase the rocket's geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) cargo capacity and lift heavier geosynchronous orbit (GEO) communications satellites. The Long March 3B also served as the basis for the medium-capacity Long March 3C, which was first launched in 2008. , the Long March 3B, 3B/E and 3B/G5 have conducted 105 successful launches, plus 2 failures and 2 partial failures, accumulating a success rate of . It is the first Long March (rocket family), Long March series rocket t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker and denser than Earth and any other rocky body in the Solar System. Its atmosphere is composed of mostly carbon dioxide (), with a global sulfuric acid cloud cover and no liquid water. At the mean surface level the atmosphere reaches a temperature of and a pressure 92 times greater than Earth's at sea level, turning the lowest layer of the atmosphere into a supercritical fluid. Venus is the third brightest object in Earth's sky, after the Moon and the Sun, and, like Mercury, appears always relatively close to the Sun, either as a "morning star" or an "evening star", resulting from orbiting closer ( inferior) to the Sun than Earth. The orbits of Venus and Earth make the two planets approach each other in synodic periods of 1.6 years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was a NASA space mission aimed at testing a method of planetary defense against near-Earth objects (NEOs). It was designed to assess how much a spacecraft impact deflects an asteroid through its transfer of momentum when hitting the asteroid head-on. The selected target asteroid, Dimorphos, is a minor-planet moon of the asteroid 65803 Didymos, Didymos; neither asteroid poses an impact threat to Earth, but their joint characteristics made them an ideal benchmarking target. Launched on 24 November 2021, the DART spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos on 26 September 2022 at 23:14 UTC about from Earth. The collision shortened Dimorphos's orbit by 32 minutes, greatly in excess of the pre-defined success threshold of 73 seconds. DART's success in deflecting Dimorphos was due to the momentum transfer associated with the recoil of the ejected debris, which was substantially larger than that caused by the impact itself. DART was a jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dimorphos
Dimorphos (formal designation (65803) Didymos I; provisional designation S/2003 (65803) 1) is a natural satellite or minor-planet moon, moon of the near-Earth object, near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, with which it forms a Binary asteroid, binary system. The moon was discovered on 20 November 2003 by Petr Pravec in collaboration with other astronomers worldwide. Dimorphos has a diameter of across its longest extent and it was the target of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a NASA space mission that deliberately collided a spacecraft with the moon on 26 September 2022 to alter its orbit around Didymos. Before the impact by DART, Dimorphos had a shape of an oblate spheroid with a surface covered in boulders but virtually no craters. The moon is thought to have formed when Didymos shed its mass due to its rapid rotation, which formed an orbiting ring of debris that conglomerated into a low-density rubble pile that became Dimorphos today. The DART impact reduced Dimorpho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aten Asteroids
The Aten asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids whose orbits bring them into proximity with Earth. By definition, Atens are Earth-crossing asteroids . The group is named after 2062 Aten, the first of its kind, discovered on 7 January 1976 by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory. As of January 2025, 2,966 Atens have been discovered, of which 271 are numbered, 14 are named, and 197 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids. Description Aten asteroids are defined by having a (a) of less than 1.0 (AU), the roughly average distance from the |
Minor Planet Object Articles (unnumbered)
Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Graph minor, Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to another * Matroid minor, Minor (matroid theory), a relation of one matroid to another * Minor (linear algebra), the determinant of a square submatrix Music * Minor chord * Minor interval * Minor key * Minor scale People * Minor (given name), a masculine given name * Minor (surname), a surname Places in the United States * Minor, Alabama, a census-designated place * Minor, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Minor Creek (California) * Minor Creek (Missouri) * Minor Glacier, Wyoming Sports * Glossary of Gaelic games terms#M, Minor, a grade in Gaelic games; also, a person who qualifies to play in that grade * Minor league, a sports league not regarded as a premier league ** Minor League Baseball or "the minors", the North Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Objects Discovered In 2015
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
