December
21,2007
Tunguska Revision, and a Possible NEA Impact on Mars
A proposed downsizing of the energy of the 1908 Tunguska airburst implies an increase in the expected frequency of such impacts. In addition, a possible Mars-impactor has been discovered by the Spaceguard Survey.
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November
10,2007
Congressional Hearings on NEO Survey Programs
On Thursday, November 8, 2007, the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing to examine the status of NASA's Near-Earth Object survey program and review the findings and recommendations of NASA's report to Congress.
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October
24,2007
Additional Recent News Stories
ESA selects Marco Polo Mission, Dawn is launched to Vesta and Ceres, workshop studies low-cost NEO missions, NEOs are featured at annual DPS meeting, and a Congressional hearing is scheduled for Nov 8.
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August
20,2007
Two new papers make extraordinary claims about comets and life.
Napier et al. assert that life originated in comets, not on planets like Earth. Kennett et al. believe that a large comet impacted North America just 13,000 years ago, causing a mass extinction. For a critique, read on.
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August
1,2007
Recent NEO News Stories
Following are articles from The Economist and MSNBC commenting on the impact hazard and the potential for human flights to NEAs.
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June
28,2007
Request for Congressional Hearing & other Reactions to NASA NEO Report
The full NASA NEO Report has been released, fueling continuing discussions among NEO scientists and also in the Congress.
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May
10,2007
Summary and Recommendations from AIAA Planetary Defense Conference
Following is the complete text of the AIAA White Paper from the conference, which was held at George Washington University in March 2007.
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May
1,2007
Press Coverage of NASA NEO Plans
In response to the March 5-8 AIAA Planetary Defense Conference in Washington and the recent report to Congress from NASA concerning future NEO studies, several supportive stories have appeared in the press.
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April
2,2007
NASA Report to Congress on Advanced NEO Survey
Following is the report submitted to the U.S. Congress by NASA on March 7, 2007, dealing with next-generation NEO surveys and options for diverting a threatening object.
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March
30,2007
Planetary Defense Conference Summary
The second triennial AIAA Planetary Defense Conference was held March 5-8 at George Washington University, Washington DC. For an unofficial summary from David Morrison read more.
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November
16,2006
Arecibo Radar Threatened & Possible Human Flights to NEAs
Below are two reports, one on radar studies at Arecibo of binary asteroid 1999 KW4, the other on NASA planning for possible human visits to NEAs as part of the Space Exploration Vision.
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June
30,2006
Close Pass by XP14 & NASA NEO Workshop
On July 3 asteroid 2004 XP14 will be the best NEO radar target ever; and NASA holds a 4-day workshop to plan a new program on the discovery, characterization, and hazard mitigation of sub-km NEAs.
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March
1,2006
Asteroid 2004 VD17 classed as Torino Scale 2
A new 500-m asteroid has appeared with a possible impact in 2102, yielding a value of 2 on the Torino impact risk scale.
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December
30,2005
NEOs and Planetary Defense in the News
For a variety of recent news releases on the impact hazard (covering Apophis, the Gravity Tractor, Itokawa, Pan-STARRS, and the House Authorization of advanced surveys),
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October
31,2005
B612 and NASA Dialog on how to Deal with Apophis
During its close passage by the Earth on April 13 2029, it is possible (but improbable) that asteroid Apophis will pass through a keyhole leading to a collision in 2036. Recent concern has centered on how to evaluate the possibility of a collision in 2036 and take action, if necessary, to deflect th...
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October
19,2005
Astronauts and the Impact Hazard
Statement on the impact hazard from the Association of Space Explorers, an organization of about 300 astronauts & cosmonauts from 30 countries. They call on governments and international organizations to accept the responsibility for prevention of these most devastating of all natural disasters.
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October
18,2005
Schweickart and Chapman on the risk of small asteroids
In this article from American Scientist, these authors discuss small (sub-km) asteroids as a largely neglected natural hazard.
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August
13,2005
Update on the Spaceguard Survey and on Asteroid Apophis
Spaceguard has now found almost 75 percent of the population of NEAs larger than 1 km, but the rate of discovery is dropping as the unknown population shrinks. And the NY Times and Time Magazine publish editorials on Apophis.
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July
22,2005
Schweickart Proposes Study of Impact Risk from Apophis (MN4)
Rusty Schweickart and the B612 Foundation have asked NASA to further study the possibility that this asteroid might return to hit the Earth after its close approach in 2029.
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July
6,2005
Deep Impact Mission Successfully Hits Comet Tempel 1
The culmination of this mission created a larger-than-expected outburst and generated spectacular images of the event.
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July
2,2005
Deep Impact Probe to Strike Comet Tempel 1
The NASA Deep Impact mission encounters its target on July 4, smashing into the comet with a 1-m-wide copper probe.
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June
1,2005
NEO Survey Act in the House of Representatives
An act authorizing additional surveys for NEOs has passed the House Science Committee in the U.S. Congress.
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April
25,2005
Asteroid MN4 and How to Protect the Earth
Possible future impacts by NEA 2004MN4 continue to stimulate thinking about protecting the planet, as in these comments by Guy Gugliotta and Rusty Schweickart.
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February
10,2005
International Workshop on Impacts & Society
Forty scientists from a wide variety of disciplines assess the danger of impacts relative to other hazards and recommend ways to deal with them on an international basis.
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January
31,2005
The Saga of Asteroid 2004 MN4
For several days nears Christmas 2004, this 400-m asteroid reached TS=4 on the Torino Scale, the first NEA to do so.
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November
4,2004
AIAA Position Paper on Protecting Earth from Impacts
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics call for stronger measures to protect our planet from impacts.
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October
29,2004
Hyperbole in Reports on NEOs and Impacts
Press releases and media reporting on impact-related science frequently exaggerate the uniqueness and significance of new research.
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September
27,2004
Close Flyby This Week from Asteroid Toutatis
Astronomers will be watching as the 5-km-long Toutatis comes within 1.5 million km of Earth on September 29.
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August
31,2004
Fred Whipple (1907-2004), Erice Meeting & Tunguska
Following are 3 articles on Fred Whipple, who has just died at the age of 97; also Clark Chapman on the Erice meeting on Planetary Emergencies, and Leon Jaroff on Tunguska silliness.
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August
26,2004
Closest Asteroid 2004 FU162
Last March 31 a very small asteroid passed Earth at an altitude of only about 6500 km above the surface.
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August
19,2004
Don Quijote, Toutatis, and & Sagan
(1) A European mission to move an asteroid, (2) a close (but safe) pass by a large asteroid, and (3) the DPS Sagan Medal for public outreach.
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May
28,2004
Spaceguard: Current Progress and Future Capabilities
While the present Spaceguard Survey will be 75% complete by the end of 2004, much bigger survey telescopes such as Pan-STARRS in Hawaii and the DCT at Lowell Observatory are making progress.
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May
14,2004
Evidence for a Large Impact at the Permian-Triassic Boundary
A newly discovered impact crater near Australia might be implicated in the greatest mass extinction of all time, 251 million years ago.
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April
7,2004
Astronauts Rusty Schweickart and Ed Lu on deflecting an NEA
Testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space dealing with defense against asteroid impacts.
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April
6,2004
AIAA Position Papers on Planetary Defense
Findings and recommendations from a February 2004 conference "Protecting the Earth from Asteroids," sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
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March
26,2004
Congressional Bills Supporting NEO Surveys
Two bills concerning NEO surveys have been introduced in the U.S. House by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif).
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March
23,2004
Nearest Asteroid (2004 FH) Passes Within 50,000 km of Earth
Newly discovered asteroid 2004 FH, estimated at 30 m diameter, made the closest asteroid flyby of Earth ever recorded on March 18, at 43,000 km above the Earth's surface.
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March
1,2004
Planetary Defense Conference: Protecting the Earth from Asteroids
For a summary of papers from a 4-day AIAA conference held February 23-26, 2004, read on.
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February
19,2004
Short Warning Times
For the story of AL00667, which briefly masqueraded as an asteroid that would hit the Earth within two days of its discovery, read on.
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January
15,2004
Does Spaceguard Make Us Safer or Just More Comfortable?
For discussions of the risk reduction from Spaceguard, and of ways to deal with possible future threats, read more.
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January
14,2004
Precision NEO Orbits and the Yarkovsky Effect
Radar studies of NEA Golevka have demonstrated the reality of the Yarkovsky effect for the first time.
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December
1,2003
Report of NASA NEO Science Definition Team
For a detailed assessment of the hazard of sub-km NEOs and what we should do about it, read more.
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November
28,2003
NEO Articles from Scientific American and Mercury
For a Scientific American article on Asteroid Tugboarts and a Mercury article on Spaceguard, read on.
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October
9,2003
Edward Teller (1908-2003) and Defense Against Asteroids
Late in his life, Teller was a powerful advocate for defending against asteroid impacts.
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September
3,2003
2003 QQ47: Another Pointless Asteroid Scare
British NEO Information Center creates another media flap over an asteroid that poses no danger of hitting the Earth.
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July
28,2003
Hazards of Tsunami and Sub-km NEAs
Once again, the press are reporting that the asteroid impact hazard has decreased. But this is not necessarily so.
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July
28,2003
Two Advocates for Expanded NEO Surveys
Statements from NEO researcher Andrea Milani and from a group of space enthusiasts who advocate a more ambitious NEO program.
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May
5,2003
Niburu and Other Nonsense
The wild stories about an approaching planet or comet are false!
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April
3,2003
OECD Report on NEO Hazard
Final report from the January 2003 OECD Workshop on NEOs: Risks, Policies, and Actions.
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March
18,2003
Tsunami Hazard from Sub-Kilometer Impacts
Technical workshop (Houston March 16) concludes that tsunami dominate the hazard from sub-kilometer asteroids, but that the risk is smaller than previously estimated.
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February
25,2003
NEO Impact Symposium & Secrecy Issues
A report from the AAAS symposium on the impact hazard and a discussion of a media flap about secrecy.
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February
5,2003
Report of NASA Mitigation Workshop
Panel recommends that NASA lead an interagency research program to mitigate the asteroid and comet impact hazard.
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November
21,2002
News on Impact Rates & Mitigation
For recent news articles, including a new value for the rate of impacts and several coments on mitigation technology (one by Congressman Rohrabacher).
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October
18,2002
Congressional Hearings on the NEO Impact Hazard
Hearings on October 3, 2002, focused on the next steps to be taken beyond the current Spaceguard Survey.
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August
16,2002
NEO Science from the ACM2002 Meeting
For new research results on NEOs presented at the triennial Asteroids, Comets, Meteors meeting,
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August
12,2002
2002 NT7: Media Splash but No Threat
NEA 2002 NT7 is quickly declared no danger, but leaves a debate concerning media coverage.
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July
23,2002
Two new NEAs and a Proposed Survey Telescope
Asteroid 2002 NT7 could hit in two decades; 2002 NY40 passes by August 17; and a large NEA search telescope is proposed.
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July
22,2002
NEA 2002 MN and a U.S. Senate Roundtable
Recently asteroid 2002 MN passed within one-fourth the distance to the Moon, inspiring wide news coverage and a U.S. Senate Roundtable on the impact hazard.
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June
24,2002
Two Recent Asteroid "Near Misses"
On June 15, asteroid 2002 MN came within 120,000 km of the Earth, while 2002 EM7 made a close flyby in March.
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June
11,2002
Dealing with the Impact Hazard
For a comprehensive technical discussion of the asteroid impact hazard and its ramifications,
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April
30,2002
NEOs and the Law
For information on a Congressional initiative to reward amateur astronomers who study NEOs, and also a legal paper on obligations to mitigate impact effects.
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April
5,2002
Possible Impact in 2880
The orbit of asteroid 1950 DA is known so well that we can consider a possible impact with Earth more than 800 years in the future.
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March
15,2002
Sentry NEO Monitoring System
NASA introduces a new automatic monitoring system that computes NEO orbits and posts them on the Web.
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February
4,2002
Progress in the Spaceguard Survey
We have now found 587 of the larger (1 km) NEAs. Will we make the goal of 90% completeness by 2008?
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February
2,2002
Appeal issued for an Australian Spaceguard Program
An Open Letter to the Australian Federal Government from International Scientists (with reply March 17, 2002)
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January
25,2002
Did Impact Dust Cause the KT Mass Extinction?
Geologist Kevin Pope thinks that stratospheric dust is much over-rated as a global killer, but his work contradicts the scientific consensus.
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January
14,2002
YB5 Arouses Public Interest and Concern
The January 7 flyby of asteroid 2001 YB5 continues to be discussed. For the thoughts of Australian physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies.
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January
9,2002
Asteroid YB5 misses the Earth
Near-Earth Asteroid 2001 YB5 passed the Earth on January 7 at a distance of 830,000 km.
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January
2,2002
UK Progress and NEO Press Coverage
A British NEO Information Centre is announced, while articles in The Guardian and USA Today comment on various NEO programs.
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December
20,2001
Searching For Small Asteroids
A persistent issue among those planning asteroid (NEA) surveys such as Spaceguard is how far to go.
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November
9,2001
NEA Population and Impact Frequency
Can a study of asteroids in the main belt provide new information on how often the Earth is struck by a Near Earth Object (NEO)? Some believe so, but most are doubtful.
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August
3,2001
Hot Meteors and Cold Meteorites
A bright meteor fireball is seen from the ground and from space on July 23. This event provides an occasion to discuss whether meteorites are hot or cold when they fall to earth.
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May
30,2001
Radar Discovers Double NEO
New radar images of NEO 1999 KW4 show this to be a binary asteroid. This is one of fewer than two dozen known asteroids whose orbits cross the orbits of Mercury, Venus and Earth.
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May
12,2001
The Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction
New evidence indicates that the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction of 200 million years ago was sudden, consistent with a possible impact mechanism.
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April
30,2001
Goal of the Spaceguard Survey
The Spaceguard NEO Survey has the goal to find 90% of Earth-crossing asteroids larger than 1 km diameter by 2008. What is the origin of this goal, and what exactly does it mean?
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April
25,2001
Did Impacts Influence Human Evolution?
Four discussions are presented on the topic of possible influences of impacts on human evolution over the past few million years.
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April
5,2001
Risk Comparison: Falling Spacecraft and Falling Asteroids
The risk of becoming a casualty as a consequence of the re-entering MIR Space Station is compared with that of asteroid impacts.
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March
25,2001
Reports of Lunar Impact Questioned
Several lines of evidence discount the report of an 1178 lunar impact from the monk Gervase of Canterbury.
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March
8,2001
Lords Debate NEOs
Transcript from the UK House of Lords Debate on the NEO hazard and what to do about it.
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February
24,2001
UK Government Response to NEO Task Force
The UK government's official response to the recommendations of the recent Task Force on Potentially Hazardous NEOs.
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February
23,2001
New Survey Telescope Proposed
Astronomy Panel of the US National Research Council supports construction of a large survey telescope (LSST) to be used in part for deeper NEO surveys.
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February
22,2001
Near Spacecraft Lands on Eros
On February 12 the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft successfully landed on Eros, beginning the final stage of the mission.
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January
20,2001
Progress in the Spaceguard Survey
Annual update of the progress of the Spaceguard Survey, which has now discovered more than half of the total number of NEAs larger than 1 km diameter.
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December
22,2000
Russian NEO Status
Reports on studies in Russia on protection of the Earth from NEO impacts.
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September
18,2000
UK NEO Report
The report of the UK government Task Group on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects has been released, calling for Britain to help defend against the NEO impact threat.
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August
1,2000
Status of the Spaceguard Survey: Half Way Done!
The Spaceguard Survey of all Near Earth Asteroids larger than 1 km diameter has discovered more than 400 NEAs and is approximately half finished (by number, not by time or effort)
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July
1,2000
Three News Items on NEOs
News reports on the Torino impact hazard scale, on the generation of tsunami by impacts, and on the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous.
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June
1,2000
Asteroids III Meeting Planned for June 2001
A major international scientific meeting called "Asteroids 2001: From Piazzi to the 3rd Millennium" will be held 11-16 June 2001 in Palermo, Sicily.
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May
31,2000
Largest Meteorite Find in Canadian History
Canadian scientists have recovered a bonanza of primitive meteorites from the spectacular meteorite fall of January 18, 2000.
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May
10,2000
Albert and Kleopatra
Scientists have recovered NEO Albert, last seen in 1911, and captured beautiful radar images of asteroid Kleopatra.
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April
11,2000
Will a Killer Asteroid Hit the Earth?
Eventually, yes. But we don't have to take it lying down. Already astronomers are scanning the skies and preparing to defend the planet
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March
14,2000
NASA Renames NEAR Spacecraft for Planetary Science Pioneer Gene Shoemaker
The NASA satellite conducting the first-ever close-up study of an asteroid will be renamed to honor Dr. Eugene M. Shoemaker, a legendary geologist who influenced decades of research on the role of asteroids and comets in shaping the planets.
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March
13,2000
NEAR Team Reports Exciting First Month of Asteroid Eros Exploration
After scarcely a month in orbit around asteroid Eros, NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft is astounding scientists with ever more detailed views of geologic features and with technical scientific accomplishments.
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February
14,2000
NEAR Begins Historic Orbit Around Eros
At 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, navigation data from the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft indicates NEAR has achieved orbit around asteroid 433 Eros.
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February
7,2000
Dialog on Military Role
NEOS, PLANETARY DEFENSE AND GOVERNMENT
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January
28,2000
Astronomy: Eyes wide shut
Astronomers like to forget that the roots of their subject lie in ancient superstitions about the influence of the cosmos on everyday affairs.
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January
14,2000
Million-year Simulation of Impacts on Earth: 7.5 Billion Killed
Millions of uncatalogued space rocks careen through interplanetary space, and Earth is one of the many sitting ducks in the cosmic shooting gallery.
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January
12,2000
Catastrophic Events & Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond,
Vienna, 9-12 July 2000
You are cordially invited to participate in the international conference on Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond, to be held at the University of Vienna, Austria, from
Sunday, July 9, 2000, to Wednesday, July 12, 2000 .
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January
12,2000
Space Protection of the Earth - 2000 September 11-15, 2000
We are enclosing the First Announcement and Call for Papers the
Third International Conference 'SPACE PROTECTION OF THE EARTH -
2000'.
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August
30,1999
Torino Meeting on NEO Hazard Monitoring, June 1-4, 1999
Following are several reports that summarize the June meeting in Italy on International Monitoring Programs for Asteroid and Comet Threat (IMPACT).
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August
17,1999
Death of US Congressman George E. Brown
It is with great regret that I report the death of George E. Brown of the U.S. House of Representatives, the strongest supporter of Spaceguard within the Congress. Representative Brown died in Washington on July 15 of complications following heart surgery.
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August
12,1999
NEAR Engine Burn Puts Spacecraft on Target for Eros
At 1 p.m., today, a 2-minute hydrazine engine burn put the NASA Discovery Program's NEAR spacecraft, on a direct path to intercept asteroid 433 Eros early next year. Commands from the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission Operations Center at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,...
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July
30,1999
Deep Space 1 Spacecraft Encounter With Asteroid Braille (1992 KD)
Engineering and science information from NASA's Deep Space 1 was transmitted from the spacecraft to ground controllers today, and the mission team continues to analyze the data.
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July
22,1999
Fastest Spinning Asteroid
Spinning faster than any object ever observed in the solar system, a lumpy, water-rich sphere known as 1998 KY26, about the diameter of a baseball diamond, is rotating so swiftly that its day ends almost soon as it begins, NASA scientists report.
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July
20,1999
Radar Studies of NEOs
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Dramatic new close-up radar images of asteroids obtained by the Arecibo 305-meter radio/radar telescope in Puerto Rico will be shown by Steven Ostro of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the seventh International Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Conference (ACM) at Cornell Univer...
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July
15,1999
NEOs Large and Small (and which ones are a threat)
The Spaceguard Survey formally aims to discover and determine orbits of all (initially 90%) NEOs of diameter 1 km or larger. Scientifically it would be very interesting to have a complete or nearly complete catalogue of such NEOs. But from a hazard perspective, the important thing is only to identif...
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June
15,1999
Torino International Spaceguard Workshop
Torino International Spaceguard Workshop
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June
1,1999
The NASA/USAF NEO Search Program
NASA, in collaboration with the US Air Force, is moving to implement a search program to meet the objectives of the Spaceguard Survey, as set down in the NASA Spaceguard reports of 1992 and 1995. About a year ago I reported on the testimony of NASA planetary exploration Theme Director Carl Pilcher c...
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April
19,1999
The Case of NEO AN10
Following is a file of information on the near-Earth asteroid called 1999 AN10, discovered by the MIT-USAF LINEAR telescope on 13 January 1999. Dynamicists Andrea Milani, Steven Chesley, and Giovanni Valsecchi carried out an analysis of its orbit, which involves resonances with the Earth and permits...
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January
15,1999
Spaceguard Asteroid Survey: How are we doing?
The Spaceguard Survey is the name given to the search for near-Earth objects (NEOs, primarily asteroids) that could someday impact the Earth. The following summarizes current progress, showing that the discovery rate is accelerating rapidly.
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December
23,1998
Commentary on the Impact Hazard
The following four comments provide a perspective on the impact hazard as it appeared to four writers in late 1998. The opinions expressed are, of course, those of the writers and not necessarily of NASA.
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November
4,1998
On protecting planet Earth and engineering our future
By the year 2025, I predict that we will have a list -- a short list, perhaps -- of asteroids whose orbits take them on 'collision courses' with Earth. To within an statistically significant degree, their future paths will intersect our planet.
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August
26,1998
Summary on the current progress of the Spaceguard Survey
The Spaceguard Survey is the name given to the search for near-Earth objects (NEOs, primarily asteroids) that could someday impact the Earth. It focuses on surveying NEOs 1 km or larger in diameter, since these NEOs are both the easiest to discover and track, and the ones that dominate the impact ha...
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June
12,1998
1997XF11 and its possible hazard to the Earth.
The following is a brief summary, signed by a substantial fraction of the international experts in celestial dynamics, concerning asteroid 1997XF11 and its possible hazard to the Earth (see news item of March 16, 1998: http://web99.arc.nasa.gov/impact/news_detail.cfm?ID=63). The bottom line is that ...
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April
13,1998
New NASA Office to focus on Asteroid detection
Asteroids and comets will get increased attention at NASA as a new program office is formed to coordinate data from spacecraft and ground-based observations of celestial bodies. This office will help avoid a repeat of the media frenzy surrounding the early March announcement that Earth might be on t...
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March
16,1998
Close approach of asteroid 1997XF11
Near-Earth asteroid 1997XF11, discovered on December 6 1997 by James Scotti of the Arizona Spacewatch Program, will come very close to the Earth in 2028. However, contrary to preliminary reports, there is no danger of its colliding with the Earth in 2028. Like all Earth-crossing asteroids, XF11 may ...
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December
30,1997
The El Paso (9 Oct.) And Greenland (9 Dec) Fireballs
This autumn, two extremely bright meteors attracted considerable media attention.
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December
15,1997
Report on Second SIS Cambridge Conference
Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilizations: Archaeological, Geological, Astronomical and Cultural Perspectives
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December
9,1997
Controversy on Mini Comets
At the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, December 8-12 1997, there were press reports of controversy concerning the claim by Lou Frank of the University of Iowa that he had discovered evidence of mini-comets striking the Earth in quantities approximately the mil...
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November
20,1997
Essay on Cosmic Consciousness: THE THREAT TO CIVILISATION DUE TO COMETS AND ASTEROIDS AND WHY WE NEED TO CHANGE THE COURSE OF NATURE (AND THAT OF SOME NEOs)
The crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter in July of 1994 proved to be a watershed in the development of mankind's cosmic consciousness.
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November
17,1997
Synopsis of British TV Documentary: "THE DAY THE EARTH GOT HIT"
At 7.16am on 30 June 1908 in the skies above Tunguska in remotest Siberia, a gigantic fireball exploded, setting fire to 2000 square kilometres of forest, toppling the trees like matchsticks and sending a pressure-wave twice around the world.
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October
20,1997
NASA Selects Comet Mission
NASA has announced the selection of another small-body mission, to provide multiple comet flybys.
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October
20,1997
Cancellation of Clementine 2 Asteroid Intercept Mission
The US Department of Defense Clementine 2 mission to test technologies for interception of asteriods has fallen victim to the Line Item Veto. President Clinton has deleted $30M in funding for Clementine from the FY1998 budget.
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October
1,1997
Early Ideas About Impacts and Extinctions
Now that cosmic impacts and their effects on evolution are widely accepted in the scientific community, it is interesting to look back at the origin of these ideas.
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September
25,1997
100 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
Produced at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
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March
9,1997
Comet Collisions from an Early 19th Century Perspective
Bob Kobres has posted a prize-winning 1828 essay by David Milne on the collisions of comets with the Earth. A few interesting excerpts are given below.
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March
7,1997
Guidelines for NEO Grant Program
The Planetary Society Near-Earth Object (NEO) Grant Program seeks to encourage the discovery and exploration of NEOs by supporting observation projects and related research around the world. The Society intends these grants to accelerate the NEO discovery rate, to improve and increase observations,...
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March
7,1997
Planetary Defense: Catastrophic Health Insurance for Planet Earth
A Research Paper Presented To Air Force 2025
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March
7,1997
Honduran Fireball
There have been a number of references in the press, and in these news notes, to this fireball and supposed meteorite fall in Honduras.
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February
7,1997
Fact and Fiction in the News
Media reports on asteroid and comet impacts, February 1997.
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January
24,1997
Media Attention
Dear friends of NEOs:
In the next month there will be a great deal of media attention in the United States directed toward NEO impacts and possible planetary defense.
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January
16,1997
Airliner Impact?
Recently Scientific American:http://www.sciam.com
posed the following question to several Astronomers:
QUESTION: Is it possible that a meteorite could strike a commercial airliner and cause it to explode? Could this possibly have caused the crash of TWA Flight 800?
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October
21,1996
New Space Shield Foundation in Russia
Following is information provided by Vadim Simonenko concerning the Space Shield Foundation (SSF). This organization, announced at the SPE-96 meeting in September, is a totally private Foundation organized in Russia but with international participation.
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October
15,1996
Dear Friends of NEOs
Dear Friends of NEOs:
The following is part of an AP news story concerning the possible first observations of a meteoroid skipping out of the atmosphere, making a full orbit, and then re-entering.
David Morrison
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October
12,1996
News on Clementine 2
Space News for October 7-13 provides the following information on Clementine 2, the proposed DoD mission to intercept three NEOs and hit each with a small high-speed probe.
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October
11,1996
"Tunguska '96", Bologna, Italy, July 15-17, 1996
This meeting was organized mainly by Guiseppe Longo of the University of Bologna, who has himself done extensive research at the Tunguska site, searching for bits of extraterrestrial matter trapped in resins in trees which survived the 1908 bolide explosion event.
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October
10,1996
Space Protection of Earth Conference
Russian Federal Nuclear Center
Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70), Russia
September 23-27, 1996
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October
8,1996
Upcoming Media Events
Dear Friends of NEOs:
I have shifted to a new e-mail system (Eudora) as well as a new office and a new job (Director of Space at NASA Ames Research Center).
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August
22,1996
New Object Looks Like a Comet But Moves Like an Asteroid
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, have discovered a unique and baffling object that may be either an unusual asteroid or an extinct comet.
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June
25,1996
Chinese Seek Atom Option to Fend Off Asteroids
"The door to peaceful nuclear explosions should not be closed, at least not now," the Foreign Minister said
...
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April
2,1996
On the Detection of Asteroids and Comets Potentially Dangerous to Humankind
There are two broad categories of space objects which have the potential to impact our planet: comets and asteroids.
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March
20,1996
Chain of Impact Crateers Suggested by Spaceborne Radar Images
A team of scientists believes they have discovered a chain of impact craters in the central African country of Chad that suggests ancient Earth may have been hit by a large, fragmented comet or asteroid similar to the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that slammed into Jupiter in 1994.
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October
1,1995
TOUTATIS ONE OF THE STRANGEST OBJECTS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Two NASA-sponsored scientists studying the Earth- crossing asteroid 4179 Toutatis with radio telescopes have found it to be one of the strangest objects in the solar system, with a highly irregular shape and an extraordinarily complex "tumbling" rotation.
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September
30,1995
NEO Survey Report Delivered
On August 9, 1995, NASA delivered to the Congress the report of the NEO Survey Science Working Group (chaired by Eugene Shoemaker). Here is he final paragraph of the cover letter from Jeff Lawrence (NASA Associate Administrator for Legislative Affairs) to Robert Walker (Chair of the House Science C...
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May
26,1995
Planetary Defense Workshop
An International Technical Meeting on Active Defense of the Terrestrial Biosphere from Impacts by Large Asteroids and Comets.
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May
4,1995
Environmental Effects of Impacts
Environmental Perturbations Caused by the Impacts of Asteroids and Comets
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December
31,1994
Dear Friends of NEOs
Following are some quotes from a recent US Air Force Document that may interest you.
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December
12,1994
NEO News (12 Dec 94)
A new small NEO discovered at Spacewatch was recently reported to have come closer to the Earth on Friday December 9 than any previously discovered non-impacting object. Jim Scotti (the discoverer) and Brian Marsden have kindly provided the following information:.
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