LPL Spotlight Stories

Citizen Science Project Nets a New Asteroid, and It's a Close One

Members of the public helped the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey spot a previously unknown near-Earth asteroid on its orbit around the sun. The asteroid, TW 2023, has no chance of colliding with Earth.

Tracking an Errant Space Rocket to a Mysterious Crater on the Moon

A new study shows how a team at the University of Arizona's Space4 Center tracked down a contested piece of space junk that crashed onto the moon and provides an explanation for why it left not one but two craters.

OSIRIS-REx Flies on as OSIRIS-APEX to Explore a Second Asteroid

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission learned much about the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu and its risk to Earth. Now, the mission will change hands and target a different kind of potentially hazardous asteroid, Apophis.

Tracking the Bennu Sample Capsule's Separation from OSIRIS-REx

Data collected ahead of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule's plunge into Earth's atmosphere will help test algorithms used to pinpoint asteroids that could impact Earth.

Digital Terrain Models Zero in on Martian Surface

Realistic, to-scale renditions of otherworldly landscapes, created by a team at the university's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, help lay the groundwork for ongoing and future Mars exploration campaigns.

UArizona Researchers Probe How a Piece of the Moon Became a Near-Earth Asteroid

An interesting pathway could have led the moon fragment to reach Earth's orbital space.

UArizona Launches Arizona Astrobiology Center to Unlock the Mysteries of Life in the Universe

The center will bring together students and faculty from across campus and disciplines to unravel the enigma of life's beginnings and our place in the cosmos.

First Look at Bennu Sample Reveals Carbon and Water

NASA's University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission has returned a sample that scientists will study for decades to learn more about the formation of the solar system.

Tucson-born Asteroid Mission Keeps Flying

The moment the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft released the capsule filled with rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, Daniella DellaGiustina, assistant professor at Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, assumed command of the robotic probe.

A Gift from Space: UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx Mission Delivers Largest-ever Asteroid Sample to Earth

The delivery from the asteroid Bennu, seven years after the spacecraft launched, marks the end of the space-voyaging phase of the mission. Scientists will now study the rocks and dust to better understand the origins of life on Earth.