Asteroid movies, rated for science accuracy, page 2

24 videos about asteroids, comets and what happens when they turn up, each with our verdict, from Armageddon and Deep Impact to Don't Look Up and NASA's own footage. Films get a science score, where one is "it was never a physics film" and five is "bring a textbook". Real footage and missions get the badge that says they are real. The videos use YouTube's privacy-enhanced embeds, which do not set tracking cookies, but your browser does contact YouTube to load each player. The Privacy page has the details.

Showing 11 to 20 of 24

Mission 2023 · NASA Video

OSIRIS-REx delivers Bennu to Earth

What you are watching. On 24 September 2023 NASA's OSIRIS-REx dropped a capsule of dust and rock from the asteroid Bennu into the Utah desert after a seven-year trip.

Our interpretation. Bennu is a 500 m asteroid with a roughly 1 in 2,700 chance of hitting Earth in 2182, which makes it the nearest thing we have to a thing worth studying closely. The capsule came back with more than 120 grams. Compared with 'the ones in the films', this is the cheapest, calmest way of meeting an asteroid.

This one is real

We went. We brought some back.

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Mission 2020 · Nippon Television News Japan

Hayabusa2 brings home Ryugu

What you are watching. Japan's Hayabusa2 sent a capsule of samples from the asteroid Ryugu to the Australian outback on 6 December 2020.

Our interpretation. About 5.4 grams of gas and dust from a rock 300 million km away, delivered by a spacecraft that had spent six years getting there and back. Small sample, huge achievement. The first time a mission fired a projectile into an asteroid to get material from beneath the surface.

This one is real

Five grams, six years.

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Explainer 2029 · BRIGHT SIDE

Apophis: the 2029 flyby you'll be able to see

What you are watching. Asteroid Apophis, about 340 m wide, will pass Earth on 13 April 2029 at around 32,000 km, closer than satellites in geostationary orbit.

Our interpretation. A rock that scored a worrying early estimate in 2004 has since been cleared by better measurements, and NASA says no impact risk for at least a century. It will be visible to the naked eye over Europe and Africa. Good news: nothing will hit us. Better news: we will be able to say we watched it go.

This one is real

Famous, flybys only.

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Documentary 66 million years ago · TED-Ed

The asteroid that almost wiped out life on Earth

What you are watching. Geophysicist Sean Gulick explains the Chicxulub impact, the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs, and how drilling into the crater shows what happened next.

Our interpretation. The reference case for every asteroid worry: a rock about 10 km wide hit what is now Mexico, left a crater 180 km across, and wiped out around three quarters of all species. It is also the reason the astronomers on this website's data feed take the job so seriously. Worth the few minutes it takes.

This one is real

Why anyone worries at all.

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Documentary 66 million years ago · Million-Year Era

The day the dinosaurs died

What you are watching. A long documentary reconstruction of the Chicxulub impact and the hours, days and years that followed.

Our interpretation. The extended cut for anyone who found the TED-Ed version too short. Treat the minute-by-minute reconstructions as informed storytelling rather than recorded fact, but the broad sequence of fireball, tsunami, wildfire and a long, dark winter is what the rock record supports.

This one is real

A very long bad day.

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Explainer 1908 · Stick Lab

How the Tunguska event unfolded

What you are watching. On 30 June 1908 something exploded in the air over Siberia and flattened millions of trees across more than 2,000 square kilometres.

Our interpretation. No crater, which is why it argued for a century. The best explanation is a stony asteroid, perhaps 50 to 60 m wide, that blew apart several kilometres up and released the equivalent of about 10 to 15 megatons. It happened over remote forest, which is the only reason it is a mystery story and not a tragedy.

This one is real

Nobody got hurt, by luck.

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Documentary 2020 · W. D. Hogan

Asteroid Hunters (IMAX)

What you are watching. The trailer for the IMAX documentary narrated by Daisy Ridley about the astronomers, engineers and astronauts who look for dangerous asteroids and work out what to do about them.

Our interpretation. Looks lovely on a very large screen, and includes the astronomer view of what a planetary defence plan involves: find them early, track them closely, and nudge them gently years ahead of time. Boring, in the best possible way.

This one is real

Big screen, calm voice.

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Documentary 2023 · NASA

Planetary Defenders

What you are watching. A NASA+ original documentary about the people who find, track and, if it ever came to it, deflect near-Earth objects.

Our interpretation. The most reassuring thing on this page. It is mostly about people with spreadsheets, telescopes and an enormous amount of patience, which is exactly who you would want in charge. The nearest thing to a behind-the-scenes look at how this site's NASA feed gets made.

This one is real

Spreadsheets save the world.

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Mission 2025 · NASA 360

Planetary Defense: tracking near-Earth asteroids

What you are watching. A June 2025 update from NASA on how many near-Earth objects have been found, and how the search for them continues.

Our interpretation. The headline: we have found nearly all of the very biggest ones, and the open question is the many smaller ones we have not found yet. Chelyabinsk was one of those. The hunt continues, with the next dedicated space telescope on the way.

This one is real

We are finding them faster.

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Mission 2023 · NASA

Psyche: a mission to a metal asteroid

What you are watching. NASA's trailer for Psyche, a spacecraft launched in October 2023 to visit 16 Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid in the main belt.

Our interpretation. No danger to anybody, but included because it is the best argument that asteroids are interesting as well as frightening. 16 Psyche is about 226 km wide and may be the exposed core of a planet that never finished forming. Arrival is planned for 2029.

This one is real

A planet that never finished.

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