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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). [2] 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 ...
The small near-Earth asteroids 2008 TC 3, 2014 AA, 2018 LA, 2019 MO, 2022 EB 5, 2022 WJ 1, 2023 CX 1 and 2024 BX 1 are the only eight asteroids discovered before impacting into Earth (see asteroid impact prediction ). Scientists estimate that several dozen asteroids in the 6–12 m (20–39 ft) size range fly by Earth at a distance closer than ...
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust.
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous – Shoemaker ( NEAR Shoemaker ), renamed after its 1996 launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, was a robotic space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year.
The Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite ( NEOSSat) [8] is a Canadian microsatellite using a 15-cm aperture f/5.88 Maksutov telescope (similar to that on the MOST spacecraft), with 3-axis stabilisation giving a pointing stability of ~2 arcseconds in a ~100 second exposure. It is funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Defence Research ...
A near-Earth supernova is an explosion resulting from the death of a star that occurs close enough to the Earth (roughly less than 10 to 300 parsecs [30 to 1000 light-years] away [2]) to have noticeable effects on Earth's biosphere . An estimated 20 supernova explosions have happened within 300 pc of the Earth over the last 11 million years.
Additionally, astronomers have found 6 white dwarfs (stars that have exhausted all fusible hydrogen), 21 brown dwarfs, as well as 1 sub-brown dwarf, WISE 0855−0714 (possibly a rogue planet ). The closest system is Alpha Centauri, with Proxima Centauri as the closest star in that system, at 4.2465 light-years from Earth.
Articles about near-Earth objects, including any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). If a NEO's orbit crosses the Earth's, and the object is larger than 140 meters (460 ft ...