Astronomy on MSN

How do planets clear out objects on the other side of their orbit?

To be a planet, NASA says an object must be big enough that its gravity has cleared away any other objects of a similar size ...
Los Angeles Times

Spacecraft’s impact changed asteroid’s orbit around the sun in a save-the-Earth test, study finds

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An asteroid that NASA used for target practice a few years ago was in fact nudged into a ...
The New York Times

Something Very Tiny Is Following Earth Around the Sun

The object, the latest “quasi-moon” detected by astronomers, could be with us for almost another 60 years. By Robin George Andrews The Earth stands alone in the solar system as a habitable world, as ...
Scientific American

NASA changed an asteroid’s orbital path around the sun, a first for humankind

Smashing a spacecraft into a binary asteroid system has managed to alter its path around the sun, a new analysis reveals But now the mission has revealed something even more profound: by slowing ...