Earth narrowly avoided an asteroid that flew past last week – and scientists did not spot the object until it had made its visit. The object, named 2023 NT1, was spotted on 15 July by the Atlas observatory in South Africa. Astronomers there say it was up to 60 metres in size. But at that point it had already made the dangerous bit of its journey: two days earlier, it had swept past Earth, at just a quarter of a distance between us and the Moon. At 60,000 miles away, that is a long way from doing any damage, but relatively close for an asteroid. As such, the asteroid didn’t pose any danger to Earth. But it was an important reminder that truly dangerous asteroids could fly towards Earth – and that we might not spot them until they are too late. That is because many asteroids, including 2023 NT1, fly towards us from the Sun. The bright light of our star can make it difficult to see anything else, especially asteroids that are relatively small at the scale of space. The European Space Agency estimates there could be a million asteroids in the same size range of 30 to 100 metres near Earth. And 98.9 per cent of them are still undiscovered, the space agency says. It has said that shows that there needs to be an improvement in the capabilities of humanity to detect such asteroids. Some are already being worked on, such as ESA’s NEOMIR, which will orbit between the Sun and the Earth and is designed to work as an early warning system for asteroids that would otherwise avoid detection, but will not launch until 2030. The asteroid 2023 NT1, at 60 metres across, is among the largest to have come so close to Earth in recent times. At that size, it could have done significant damage: the Chelyabinsk meteoroid that injured 1,500 people and damaged buildings when it fell to Earth in 2013 was only 20 metres across, for instance. From its approach last week, scientists have been able to catalogue and predict the asteroid’s movements. That should make it possible to track and spot it next time it comes close to Earth. Read More Powerful solar flare to disrupt communications, Russians warn What to expect from India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon’s south pole India launches historic mission to Moon’s south pole

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2023--

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 1, 2023--

By Josh Ye HONG KONG China's Lenovo Group Ltd on Wednesday reported a 24% fall in revenue for

Close to half of Americans say automation could easily replace their jobs, according to an American Staffing Association

Scientists have spotted a shocking number of galaxies like our own in the early universe. The finding will prompt us to entirely rethink our understanding of how the universe formed the structures that surround us. Looking deep into space, scientists found that the galaxies we see in the early universe are much more like our own Milky Way than was thought possible. A team of international researchers including those at The University of Manchester and University of Victoria in Canada, used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to discover that galaxies like the Milky Way are 10 times more common than what was believed based on previous observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. Many of these galaxies formed some 10 billion years ago or longer, going far back into the history of the universe. The Milky Way is a typical disk galaxy, with a shape similar to a pancake or compact disc, rotating about its centre and often containing spiral arms. These galaxies might be the kind where life can develop given the nature of their formation history, experts suggest. Astronomers previously considered these types of galaxies too fragile to exist in the early universe when galaxy mergers were more common, destroying what was thought to be their delicate shapes. Christopher Conselice, professor of extragalactic astronomy at The University of Manchester, said: “Using the Hubble Space Telescope we thought that disc galaxies were almost non-existent until the universe was about six billion years old, these new JWST results push the time these Milky Way-like galaxies form to almost the beginning of the universe.” He added: “These JWST results show that disc galaxies like our own Milky Way, are the most common type of galaxy in the universe. “This implies that most stars exist and form within these galaxies which is changing our complete understanding of how galaxy formation occurs. “These results also suggest important questions about dark matter in the early universe which we know very little about.” “Based on our results, astronomers must rethink our understanding of the formation of the first galaxies and how galaxy evolution occurred over the past 10 billion years.” The researchers say their findings, published in the Astrophysical Journal, completely overturn the existing understanding of how scientists think the universe evolves, and the scientists say new ideas need to be considered. Lead author Leonardo Ferreira, from the University of Victoria, said: “For over 30 years it was thought that these disc galaxies were rare in the early universe due to the common violent encounters that galaxies undergo. “The fact that JWST finds so many is another sign of the power of this instrument and that the structures of galaxies form earlier in the universe, much earlier in fact, than anyone had anticipated.” The improved technology of JWST allows astronomers to see the true structure of these galaxies for the first time. A paper describing the findings, ‘The JWST Hubble Sequence: The Rest-Frame Optical Evolution of Galaxy Structure at 1.5 The Astrophysical Journal. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Nasa just delivered a piece of a distant asteroid to Earth Nasa lands Bennu asteroid samples back on Earth Pieces of a distant asteroid are about to fall to Earth Nasa just delivered a piece of a distant asteroid to Earth Nasa lands Bennu asteroid samples back on Earth Pieces of a distant asteroid are about to fall to Earth

Social media stars Breckie Hill and Olivia Dunne, often compared due to their similar appearances and online success, are reportedly in a feud

Soccer superstar Leo Messi's arrival in America has sparked a surge in ticket prices, apparel and now, streaming subscriptions.

TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to AI Resume Builder is on sale for £30.90, saving you

By Hannah Lang (Reuters) -State banks that are a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve system should obtain a written

It’s one of the questions which has fascinated scientists for hundreds of years, but how did the dinosaurs really go extinct? Well, new research might have just solved the mystery once and for all. Of course, most people are familiar with the fact that an asteroid struck the Earth around 66 million years ago, but fewer people might know that the object measured a whopping 10 to 15 kilometres wide and landed in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Fewer people still might know that while it sparked all sorts of devastation, including earthquakes and megatsunamis, and now experts have revealed that what might have really proved fatal for the dinosaurs was the dust that it caused. We’re not talking a little bit of dust, either. Trillions of tons of the stuff was released into the atmosphere when then asteroid struck. The damage done by this dust is explored in the new report published by Nature Geoscience. So much was released, in fact, that it caused a “global winter”, with huge clouds of silicate dust and sulphur causing temperatures to drop by 15C. The lack of light would have caused entire ecosystems to collapse, causing 75 per cent of species to be rendered extinct. The effects of the dust could have blocked out sunlight for as long as two years, which according to the Belgium researchers who led the study is what would have killed off dinosaurs gradually – rather than being killed off straight away by the asteroid. It is, however, what eventually led to other life forms emerging and ultimately the development of the human race. "Dinos dominated Earth and were doing just fine when the meteorite hit," co-author of the study and planetary scientist Philippe Claeys said. "Without the impact, my guess is that mammals - including us - had little chance to become the dominant organisms on this planet." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

The share of employers offering student loan repayment benefits is climbing as companies hope to gain a competitive