Space.com on MSN

'No, it's too dangerous': Inside Japanese probe's super-close flyby of two-headed asteroid

Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft returned amazing images after a super-close asteroid flyby on July 5, but the encounter was a ...
Space on MSN

Japan's Hayabusa2 probe captures remarkable photo of a two-headed asteroid 62 million miles away

Japan's Hayabusa2 asteroid probe got up close to asteroid Torifune on July 5 and captured stunning new images of the double-lobed space rock.
Smithsonian Magazine

New Images Reveal That This Asteroid Is Actually Two Conjoined Space Rocks. They Form a Peanut-Shaped Object Called a ‘Contact Binary’

A flyby conducted by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 uncovered the asteroid's strange shape. Data gathered by the probe will also help defend the planet against potentially threatening space rocks ...
The Manila Times on MSN

Japan space probe skims asteroid in test for planetary defense

TOKYO — A Japanese space probe performed a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks. The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 ...
Digital Journal

Japan space probe reaches asteroid in search for origin of life

A Japanese probe has reached an asteroid 300 million kilometres away to collect information about the birth of the solar system and the origin of life after a more than three-year voyage through deep ...
BBC Sky at Night Magazine on MSN

This Japanese spacecraft is on its way to an asteroid – but could it be about to encounter a lost Soviet spacecraft instead?

Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft is on its way to rendezvous with comet 1998 KY26. Could it be unwittingly chasing and old Soviet ...