One of the most exciting things about science is the detective work, and never was this more the case than Friday. Within an hour or so of the event, almost everyone had seen the dramatic footage of the meteor over Russia. With the fly-by of another asteroid 2012 DA14 due only hours later, the obvious […] … learn more→
Forensic astronomy: the Russian meteor and 2012 DA14
Look out: close encounters of the asteroidal kind
An asteroid named 2012 DA14 will come within 27,700 kilometres of Earth early on Saturday morning Australian time (around 6:30am AEDT). At this distance the asteroid will pass within the orbits of several geostationary satellites. Should we be worried? Alert but not alarmed is probably a better approach. We do not know of any large […] … learn more→
How to avoid an asteroid impact (without calling in Bruce Willis)
How many times have you read a headline about our impending doom due to a “Deep Impact”-style annihilation? In a way it’s not surprising – we have an insatiable appetite for disaster stories, a hunger Hollywood is all too keen to feed. And, in many ways, an asteroid impact is the ultimate catastrophe. But yesterday […] … learn more→