Astronomers mistook a car SpaceX blasted into space years ago as an asteroid. The brief mix-up highlights the sometimes ...

Scientists have found two unusual objects in deep space. One is so big it could fit 21 Jupiters inside but is neither a star nor a planet.

Space agencies have systems in place to spot, track, and forecast the future orbits of potentially hazardous asteroids.

But more recently, the car spawned a high-profile case of mistaken identity as space observers mistook it for an asteroid. Several observations of the vehicle, gathered by sweeping surveys of the ...

The mix-ups highlight difficulties with tracking objects in deep space — a problem exacerbated by the growing number of human-made objects getting jettisoned into the ether. Objects traversing ...

The mix-ups highlight difficulties with tracking objects in deep space — a problem exacerbated by the growing number of human-made objects getting jettisoned into the ether. Objects traversing ...

It was a remarkable case of mistaken identity. But it was far from the first, as a host of similar cases have troubled astronomers. The mix-ups highlight difficulties with tracking objects in deep ...