This week’s image is from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which was doing a flyby of Mars last month for a gravity assist on it way to asteroid Psyche in 2029. What you are seeing is a composite photo of the crescent of the planet as the Psyche spacecraft approached it. NASA shared the photo on July 17, 2026.
You can see much more related to this flyby at this NASA link.
This week’s image comes from a Chinese probe called Tianwen-2. It shows the spinning asteroid 2016 HO3, or Kamo‘oalewa, which is labeled by some of a “quasi-moon” of Earth until it decides to move on. Unlike the actual Moon, this asteroid is simply joining the Earth as it circles the Sun. The asteroid is about the size of a school bus.
The Chinese probe, launched from China in May 2025, is believed to have started its orbit of asteroid Kamo‘oalewa on June 6th of this year. It is now believed to be a rubble-pile asteroid, meaning it is basically loose material rather than a solid object. Even so, the Chinese probe may try to grab a sample to be returned to Earth in November 2027.
The source of the asteroid is still being debated, with some believing it is a piece of the Moon dislodged by an incoming asteroid while others believe it comes from the main asteroid belt.
In a paper released last year, scientists were leaning towards its origin being the main asteroid belt, noting:
Quantitative estimates show that population models of [Near Earth Asteroids] based on the migration of objects from the main belt are capable of accounting for Kamo‘oalewa-like objects. This relative contribution supports the hypothesis that (469219) Kamo‘oalewa originated from the main belt, which will be further investigated by future observations and in situ exploration of the Tianwen-2 spacecraft.
How long will it remain Earth’s partner? Back in 2021, Renu Malhotra, a UArizona planetary sciences professor, stated:
It will not remain in this particular orbit for very long, only about 300 years in the future, and we estimate that it arrived in this orbit about 500 years ago.
NASA is busy tracking the various large asteroids around the solar system, so we are a few paces ahead of the dinosaurs. Go to this link to learn more.
For more about Asteroid Day, go to this link.
This week’s image comes from the Psyche spacecraft that is utilizing Martian gravity for its flight plan on its way to the asteroid Psyche in the asteroid belt. This image of a crescent Mars is one of many drive-by photos for both science and our enjoyment.
Here is more on this Martian part of the mission from NASA:
Because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, the planet appeared as a thin crescent in the days running up to the close approach, lit by sunlight reflecting off its surface. In observations from the spacecraft’s multispectral imager, the crescent appeared brighter and extended farther around the planet’s disk than anticipated because of the strong scattering of sunlight through the planet’s dusty atmosphere. As Psyche passed from Mars’ nighttime skies to daytime, it took a rapid series of pictures of the surface around the time of closest approach.
“We’ve captured thousands of images of the approach to Mars and of the planet’s surface and atmosphere at close approach. This dataset provides unique and important opportunities for us to calibrate and characterize the performance of the cameras, as well as test the early versions of our image processing tools being developed for use at the asteroid Psyche,” said Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. “As the spacecraft continues its journey after the flyby, we’ll continue calibration imaging of Mars for the rest of the month as it recedes into the distance.”
Here are some recent space-related stories.
—BBC Sky at Night: “We Were Truly Astonished” – Astronomers Say Earth Formed from the Same Material as Mars“
Planetary scientists say they’ve taken a step closer to solving the mystery of where the material that formed Earth comes from. While Earth resides in the inner Solar System with Mercury, Venus and Mars, it’s been proposed that up to 40% of the material that formed our planet came from the outer reaches, beyond the orbit of Jupiter. But a new study looking at the chemistry of meteorites has found that Earth is likely made entirely from the inner Solar System. In particular, Earth’s make-up is strikingly similar to that of Mars and Vesta, one of the biggest objects in the asteroid belt.
—SciTechDaily: “Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Came From a Place Nothing Like Our Solar System“
A comet from beyond our solar system is giving astronomers a rare look at how alien planetary systems may form under conditions very different from those that shaped our own cosmic neighborhood. The object, called 3I/ATLAS, was discovered less than a year ago as it traveled through our solar system. Although scientists still do not know exactly where it originated, new research led by the University of Michigan suggests the comet formed in an extremely cold region of space…“Our new observations show that the conditions that led to the formation of our solar system are much different from how planetary systems evolved in different parts of our galaxy,” said Luis Salazar Manzano, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the U-M Department of Astronomy.
—New York Times: “U.S.-China Rivalry Reaches South American Skies“
In the foothills of the Argentine Andes, the enormous Chinese radio telescope sits in one of the world’s premier stargazing locations, surrounded by vast, undulating mountain ranges and beneath skies untouched by light pollution. It is also on the opposite side of the planet from Beijing, offering China a window on the half of the heavens it would not otherwise see. But the Chinese telescope at the site, the Cesco observatory in San Juan Province, picks up no signals. After the U.S. government repeatedly pressed them on the issue, the Argentine authorities stopped the project’s completion. Lacking key parts, the telescope now sits dismembered, its gigantic antenna pointing blindly at the sky.
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