Small Asteroid to Pass Close to Earth March 5 February 2, 2016 A small asteroid that two years ago flew past Earth at a comfortable distance of about 1.3 million miles (2 million kilometers) will safely fly by our planet again in a few weeks, though this time it may be much closer. During the upcoming March 5 flyby, asteroid 2013 TX68 could fly past Earth as far out as 9 million miles (14 million kilometers) or as close as 11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) Full Story

NASA Office to Coordinate Asteroid Detection, Hazard Mitigation January 7, 2016 NASA has formalized its ongoing program for detecting and tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs) as the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). The office will be responsible for supervision of all NASA-funded projects to find and characterize asteroids and comets that pass near Earth's orbit around the sun Full Story

Radar Images of a Christmas-Eve Asteroid 2003 SD220 December 23, 2015 Asteroid 2003 SD220 will safely fly past Earth on Dec. 24 at a distance of 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers). Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have generated the highest-resolution images to date of this asteroid using the Deep Space Network's 230-foot (70-meter) antenna at Goldstone, California. Full Story

Asteroid Looks Even Better Second Time Around December 17, 2015 Asteroid 1998 WT24 safely flew past Earth on Dec. 11 at a distance of about 2.6 million miles (4.2 million kilometers, 11 lunar distances). During its flyby, NASA scientists used the 230-foot (70-meter) DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, California, to probe it with microwave transmissions. Using this technique, they created the highest-resolution radar images of the asteroid. Full Story

Radar Images Provide New Details on Halloween Asteroid November 3, 2015 The highest-resolution radar images of asteroid 2015 TB145's safe flyby of Earth have been processed. NASA scientists used giant, Earth-based radio telescopes to bounce radar signals off the asteroid as it flew past Earth on Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) at about 1.3 lunar distances (300,000 miles, or 480,000 kilometers) from Earth. Asteroid 2015 TB145 is spherical in shape and approximately 2,000 feet (600 meters) in diameter. Full Story

Halloween Skies to Include Dead Comet Flyby October 30, 2015 The large space rock that will zip past Earth this Halloween is most likely a dead comet that, fittingly, bears an eerie resemblance to a skull. Scientists observing asteroid 2015 TB145 with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, have determined that the celestial object is more than likely a dead comet that has shed its volatiles after numerous passes around the sun. Full Story

NASA Spots the 'Great Pumpkin': Halloween Asteroid a Treat for Radar Astronomers Oct 21, 2015 NASA scientists are tracking the upcoming Halloween flyby of asteroid 2015 TB145 with several optical observatories and the radar capabilities of the agency's Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. The asteroid will fly past Earth at a safe distance slightly farther than the moon's orbit on Oct. 31 at 10:05 a.m. PDT (1:05 p.m. EDT). Full Story

There is No Asteroid Threatening Earth in September 2015 August 19, 2015 Numerous recent blogs and web postings are erroneously claiming that an asteroid will impact Earth, sometime between Sept. 15 and 28, 2015. On one of those dates, as rumors go, there will be an impact -- "evidently" near Puerto Rico -- causing wanton destruction to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of th e United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America. "There is no scientific basis -- not one shred of evidence -- that an asteroid or any other celestia l object will impact Earth on those dates," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object of fice at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Full Story

Earth Flyby of 'Space Peanut' Captured in New Video (1999 JD6) July 31, 2015 NASA scientists have used two giant, Earth-based radio telescopes to bounce radar signals off a passing asteroid and produce images of the peanut-shaped body as it approached close to Earth this past weekend. The images show the rotation of the asteroid, named 1999 JD6, which made its closest approach on July 24 at 9:55 p.m. PDT (12:55 a.m. EDT on July 25) at a distance of about 4.5 million miles (7.2 million kilometers, or about 19 times the distance from Earth to the moon). Full Story

	Asteroid Icarus to Make Distant Pass on June 16, 2015 June 15, 2015 Asteroid Icarus will safely pass by Earth at more than 21 times the distance of Earth to the moon on June 16. To put it another way, Icarus, one of the first near-Earth asteroids ever discovered (1949), will approach no closer than five million miles away (eight million kilometers). Full Story

Asteroid 1999 FN53 Distant 'Flyby' on May 14 May 13, 2015 An asteroid, designated 1999 FN53, will safely pass more than 26 times the distance of Earth to the moon on May 14. To put it another way, at its closest point, the asteroid will get no closer than 6.3 million miles away (10 million kilometers). It will not get closer than that for well over 100 years. And even then, (119 years from now) it will be so far away it will not affect our planet in any way, shape or form. 1999 FN53 is approximately 3,000 feet (1 kilometer) across. Full Story

NASA Announces Next Steps on Journey to Mars: Progress on Asteroid Initiative March 25, 2015 NASA announced more details on its plan for its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which in the mid-2020s will test a number of new capabilities needed for future human expeditions to deep space, including to Mars. NASA also announced it has increased the detection of near-Earth asteroids by 65 percent since launching its asteroid initiative three years ago. For ARM, a robotic spacecraft will capture a boulder from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid and move it into a stable orbit around the moon for exploration by astronauts, all in support of advancing the nation's journey to Mars. Full Story

	Number of Known Accessible Near-Earth Asteroids Doubles Since 2010 February 6, 2015 On January 18, 2015 - a little over four years since the NHATS assessments began - the 1332nd NHATS-compliant asteroid was identified, doubling the number of known accessible NEAs. Full Story

Asteroid 2004 BL86 That Flew By Earth Today Has A Moon January 26, 2015 Updated January 30, 2015 Scientists working with NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, have released the first radar images of asteroid 2004 BL86. The images show the asteroid, which made its closest approach today (Jan. 26, 2015) at 8:19 a.m. PST (11:19 a.m. EST) at a distance of about 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers, or 3.1 times the distance from Earth to the moon), has its own small moon. Full Story Updated Animation (January 30, 2015)

	Updated Charts for Asteroid 2004 BL86 Earth Flyby on Jan 26, 2015 January 22, 2015 New orbital chart and star charts are now available. Full Story

Asteroid 2004 BL86 to Fly By Earth Safely on January 26 January 13, 2015 An asteroid, designated 2004 BL86, will safely pass about three times the distance of Earth to the moon on January 26. From its reflected brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about a third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) in size. The flyby of 2004 BL86 will be the closest by any known space rock this large until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past Earth in 2027. Full Story

	Asteroid 2014 UR116, A 400-meter Sized Near-Earth Asteroid, Represents No Threat to the Earth December 8, 2014 Some recent press reports have suggested that an asteroid designated 2014 UR116 represents an impact threat to the Earth. The asteroid does not represent a threat because it's orbital path does not pass sufficiently close to the Earth's orbit. Full Story

	Newly Released Map Data Shows Frequency of Small Asteroid Impacts, Provides Clues on Larger Asteroid Population November 14, 2014 Small asteroids near Earth, with sizes of only about a meter, hit the atmosphere and disintegrate with surprising frequency - around every other week, new data show. Full Story

	Reports of Meteorite Strike in Nicaragua and a Size Update for Asteroid 2014 RC September 8, 2014 Updated: September 11, 2014 Small meteorite impact reported in Nicaragua is unrelated to Asteroid 2014 RC. 2014 RC has a rotation rate of 15.8 seconds - the fastest rotating asteroid ever observed. Full Story

	Small Asteroid to Pass Close by Earth on Sunday (2014 RC) September 3, 2014 A small asteroid, designated 2014 RC, will safely pass very close to the Earth on Sunday, 7 September 2014. From its brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 20 meters (60 feet) in size Full Story

	NASA Announces Latest Progress in Hunt for Asteroids June 19, 2014 Agency officials announced on Thursday, June 19, recent progress to identify candidate asteroids for its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), increase public participation in the search for asteroids, and advance the mission's design. Full Story

Giant Telescopes Pair Up to Image Near-Earth Asteroid June 12, 2014 NASA scientists using Earth-based radar have produced sharp views of a recently discovered asteroid 2014 HQ124 as it slid silently past our planet. The new views are some of the most detailed radar images of a near-Earth asteroid ever obtained. Full Story

Asteroid Discovered by NASA to Pass Earth Safely June 6, 2014 A large newfound asteroid - 2014 HQ124 - will safely pass Earth on June 8 from a distance of about 777,000 miles (1.25 million kilometers), more than three times farther away than our moon. Full Story