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Asteroid news
The gist
Astronomers catalogued the 40,000th near-Earth asteroid, a milestone in tracking space rocks near Earth.
Finding asteroids is the first step to addressing any impact threat.
How it unfolded
- Jul 5, 2026JAXA's Hayabusa2 fired its LIDAR laser twice at asteroid Torifune during a flyby, from about 20 km and 15 km away.
- Sep 10, 2026An international team using the James Webb Space Telescope reported that the two rings around 10199 Chariklo have changed significantly since 2013; one darkened, the other thinned out.
- Sep 12, 2026Japan's Hayabusa2 was reported to have achieved the first-ever laser ranging experiment with an asteroid.