(Courtesy of Goldenrectangle) Out among the dust and debris in our solar system are notable bodies not quite worthy of dwarf planet status, but still worthy of our notice -- asteroids. Millions of these irregularly shaped chunks of rock are out there orbiting the sun and humbly going about their business. As they drift along in the void, little do they suspect that we Earthlings have come to view them as potential planet-killers! The 1994 collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter caught the public's attention and made it quite clear that astronomical run-ins aren't just theoretical, but a reality. We hardly needed to look so far into the solar system to find evidence, though. The pockmarked surface of our moon keeps a running tab on impacts, and we even have video of meteorites slamming into it. Furthermore, there is plenty of terrestrial evidence of our planet's own violent history. So, do we need to worry about aggressive asteroids in the coming centuries? Perhaps. Fortunately for us, the fine folks at NASA are on top of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and have even developed an Impact Risk Scale to allow us to appropriately match our level of alarm to any asteroid in question. And should NASA make some faulty calculations, there are other organizations searching for ways to deflect the next dinosaur killer. So for the time being, since it seems our doom is not so imminent, let us then think of asteroids not as ruinous rocks of annihilation, but rather as gentle space neighbors who are just as keen on avoiding us as we are on avoiding them. Suggested Sites... Earth Impact Effects Program - design your own disaster with this impressive impact calculator. NASA: Near Earth Object Program - check out the orbits of potentially risky asteroids. NASA: Images of Eros - view an asteroid up close with these Eros images taken by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft. NASA: Friday the 13th, 2009 - asteroid 2004 MN4 pays us an uncomfortably close, but potentially stunning, visit.

Directory categories: Asteroids, Earth Impact, Solar System, Astronomy Instruments, Dwarf Planets

Archived under: Asteroids, Astronomy, Disasters, Physics, Planets, Science, Space

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