During this close approach, the Parker Solar Probe will cut through plumes of solar plasma, collecting vital data to help scientists better understand the Sun's behavior and its effects on Earth.
An asteroid the size of around nine reindeer - coincidentally, how many reindeer Santa Claus supposedly uses - is set to pass by the Earth on Christmas.
The research team's simulations indicate a 1 in 100 chance that an interstellar visitor could produce the orbits we see today.
Isaacman, a high school dropout and billionaire, is Jewish but has not made that piece of his identity a major part of his public persona.
The asteroid is the 11th to have been detected by scientists before impacting Earth. However, due to its small size, it did not cause any damage.
Previously, simulating the universe at this scale was not possible due to the immense timescales involved and limitations in computational power.
NASA has announced that it has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Dragonfly mission.
The discovery occurred while the NASA team was testing the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) system aboard a Gulfstream III aircraft.
The presence of hot liquid water during early magmatic activity on Mars supports the idea that suitable conditions for the emergence of life existed on the Red Planet.
“We also needed to test that our assumption works on much larger scales," said cosmologist Pauline Zarrouk.
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