Japan launched the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on a mission to fetch a sample from an asteroid. The asteroid is named 162173 Ryugu, but it's also known as 1999 JU3. Hayabusa2 lifted off from the Tanegashima ...

The stadium-sized asteroid 2020 XR is due to make its closest approach to Earth on record early on Dec. 4, and the encounter ...

Imperial College London scientists say microbes on asteroid samples from Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission have down to Earth ...

Asteroid 2022 WJ1 was just 20 inches wide, the smallest measured. It exploded in a green fireball visible across Ontario and ...

Asteroids are remnants of the formation of our solar system, and while many can be found within the asteroid belt between the ...

The salt crystals, consisting of rock salt, sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfate, are crucial for understanding the evolution ...

A team of researchers led by Matthew Genge at Imperial College London confirmed that the asteroid has organic molecules; it confirmed that the samples actually have signs of life — but this life doesn ...

A Ryugu asteroid sample has been found contaminated by terrestrial microbes, raising questions about planetary protection.

See multiple views from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft's touching down on asteroid 162173 Ryugu. Credit: JAXA/U. Tokyo/Kochi ...

Scientists have found microorganisms crawling over a sample retrieved from the 200 million-mile-distant asteroid Ryugu. But ...

Last year, researchers excitedly announced that they had found two organic compounds essential for living organisms in ...