BS4 may be anywhere between 17 and 40 feet across, and will approach at about twice the distance between the Earth and moon.

Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose.

Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun, mostly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They can vary in size, from small pebbles to hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The newly identified asteroid,

Two new studies show a briny, carbon-rich environment on the parent body of the Bennu asteroid was suitable for assembling the building blocks of life.

NASA’s Lucy mission will continue its journey to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, which share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun, in 2025. One key event for Lucy is its flyby of the inner main-belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, scheduled for April 20, 2025.

"The detection of these key building blocks of life in the Bennu samples supports the theory that asteroids and their fragments seeded the early Earth with the raw ingredients that led to the emergence of life," said astrobiologist Dr Danny Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, lead author of one of the studies.

PT5, a near-Earth object discovered last year, has captivated scientists with its potential lunar origins. Likely ejected into space after a massive impact on the Moon thousands of years ago, the asteroid’s orbit closely matches Earth’s.

Scientists found that asteroid Bennu contained a set of salty mineral deposits that formed in an exact sequence when a brine evaporated, leaving clues about the type of water that flowed billions of years ago.

The building blocks of life have been found on an asteroid, scientists have said. Samples taken by Nasa from the ­asteroid Bennu have not only the ingredients required to life, but also show the leftovers of an ancient water world,

In 2029, one of the solar system's many asteroids will pass Earth close enough to see with the naked eye. But asteroid Apophis won't travel the same path again.

Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were