News Archive

2/13/2013

2013 News Archive

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June 14,2010
Hayabusa Returns!
The Japanese (JAXA) mission to the sub-km NEA Itokawa made a spectacular return to Earth on June 13, landing on the Woomera test range in Australia. Read more...

May 17,2010
NASA Shifts Course Toward NEAs
NASA's future course for human space exploration has been subject to extensive debate ever since the Augustine Commission recommended a "flexible path" with "multiple destinations." The new approach was implemented in the President's proposed NASA budget for FY11, which would (if approved by Congres... Read more...

May 10,2010
Academy Report on NEO Surveys & Hazard Mitigation
The National Research Council has completed a report on Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies. This study was carried out at the joint request of NASA and the U.S. Congress. Read more...

July 30,2009
Big Impact on Jupiter
The big news this week is the impact on Jupiter that took place on July 19, 2009. This appears analogous to the 1994 impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, except that in this case the hit was from a single projectile. Read more...

June 5,2009
Planetary Defense Conference, April 2009
An International Planetary Defense Conference was held in Granada, Spain, on April 27-30, 2009. Following is a summary of some highlights from this meeting. Read more...

December 30,2008
Death of Steve Ostro (1946-2008)
NEA studies has lost one of our most brilliant scientists and devoted friends with the death of Steve Ostro, who reinvented the science of radar astronomy and gave us some of our most memorable images of NEAs. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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), Read more...

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... Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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). Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

May 5,2003
Niburu and Other Nonsense
The wild stories about an approaching planet or comet are false! Read more...

April 3,2003
OECD Report on NEO Hazard
Final report from the January 2003 OECD Workshop on NEOs: Risks, Policies, and Actions. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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). Read more...

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. Read more...

August 16,2002
NEO Science from the ACM2002 Meeting
For new research results on NEOs presented at the triennial Asteroids, Comets, Meteors meeting, Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

June 11,2002
Dealing with the Impact Hazard
For a comprehensive technical discussion of the asteroid impact hazard and its ramifications, Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

March 15,2002
Sentry NEO Monitoring System
NASA introduces a new automatic monitoring system that computes NEO orbits and posts them on the Web. Read more...

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? Read more...

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) Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

December 20,2001
Searching For Small Asteroids
A persistent issue among those planning asteroid (NEA) surveys such as Spaceguard is how far to go. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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? Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

March 8,2001
Lords Debate NEOs
Transcript from the UK House of Lords Debate on the NEO hazard and what to do about it. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

December 22,2000
Russian NEO Status
Reports on studies in Russia on protection of the Earth from NEO impacts. Read more...

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. Read more...

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) Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

May 10,2000
Albert and Kleopatra
Scientists have recovered NEO Albert, last seen in 1911, and captured beautiful radar images of asteroid Kleopatra. Read more...

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 Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

February 7,2000
Dialog on Military Role
NEOS, PLANETARY DEFENSE AND GOVERNMENT Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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 . Read more...

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'. Read more...

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). Read more...

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. Read more...

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,... Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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... Read more...

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... Read more...

June 15,1999
Torino International Spaceguard Workshop
Torino International Spaceguard Workshop Read more...

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... Read more...

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... Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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... Read more...

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 ... Read more...

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... Read more...

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 ... Read more...

December 30,1997
The El Paso (9 Oct.) And Greenland (9 Dec) Fireballs
This autumn, two extremely bright meteors attracted considerable media attention. Read more...

December 15,1997
Report on Second SIS Cambridge Conference
Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilizations: Archaeological, Geological, Astronomical and Cultural Perspectives Read more...

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... Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

October 20,1997
NASA Selects Comet Mission
NASA has announced the selection of another small-body mission, to provide multiple comet flybys. Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

September 25,1997
100 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
Produced at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Read more...

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. Read more...

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,... Read more...

March 7,1997
Planetary Defense: Catastrophic Health Insurance for Planet Earth
A Research Paper Presented To Air Force 2025 Read more...

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. Read more...

February 7,1997
Fact and Fiction in the News
Media reports on asteroid and comet impacts, February 1997. Read more...

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.