Home / Hypographies /

Near Earth Objects

It is hard to forget comet Shoemaker-Levy's violent encounter with Jupiter some time ago. But are we prepared to stop comets heading our way?

Posted by Tormod Guldvog
13 September, 2001 04:09:50

print article
A | A | A

If you saw the Hollywood movies "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon", you might have an idea of how devastating a comet impact might be for Earth and mankind. For a number of years now, scientists have been trying to figure out how to create a warning system which could alert us to the threat of incoming space rocks.

It is not an easy task. Observations have shown that there are thousands of objects in solar orbits close to our planet (so called "Near Earth Objects"). At any given time, some of them are bound to head our way.

Most of them are harmless, though. They will miss the Earth by a good margin. Keeping track of the NEOs to find potentially dangerous candidates for impacts, does not lower the potential for deadly impacts. But, over the years, these observations might help us build defence systems which could stop the offenders dead in their tracks.

Related Links

How to Search for Planets, Asteroids, & Comets
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire/vol1p8.htm
If you own a telescope, some very expensive radio equipment and possible a degree in astrophysics, you could probably find your own planets.

The Day the Sands Caught Fire
http://www.sciam.com/1998/1198issue/1198wynn.html
A Feature Article from Scientific American about the results of an ancient meteor impact in Saudi Arabia.

Near Earth Objects
http://www.nearearthobjects.co.uk/
This website is a report from the UK Task Force on Near Earth Objects.

Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site
http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/neodys/neoibo
A site with live tracking information on Near Earth Objects, ie. comets and asteroids which are close to our home planet.

The Torino Impact Hazard Scale
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/torino_scale.html
Measure your back yard impact craters with this useful scale tool.

Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards
http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/index.html
The official website for a NASA project about NEO research, operated by NASA AMES.

The NEO Page
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/NEO/TheNEOPage.html
A Harvard page about Near Earth Objects. Check out the Sky Coverage section where you can track recent asteroids heading for Earth.

Australian Spaceguard Survey
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/spacegd.html
A page about the dangers of asteroid impacts, and information on what is and can be done to prevent them.

Stardust Mission
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/
The Stardust is a small spacecraft which will encounter a comet and return samples of it to the Earth.

Asteroid storm pounded Earth, moon as life formed
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/12/07/lunar.cataclysm/index.html
Article in CNN Interactive about new discoveries which show that life occurred on the Earth at the same time as a major asteroid storm.

Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies
http://www.aero.org/cords/
This is the homepage for CORDS, which works to prevent hazards from debris in near Earth orbit.