[AZ-Observing] Re: Almost put on impact alert
- From: Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 12:12:38 -0700
At 11:21 -0700 02/26/2004, Steve Coe wrote:
>Howdy folks;
>I saw the link to this story:
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3517319.stm
>
>it is about the fact that with very few observations there was
>almost an announcement made concerning a possible meteoroid
>collision with Earth.
>
>I am struck by the fact that so little seems to continually be done
>in this field. With a very modest input of funds we could probably
>do a much better job of monitoring the assortment of rocks that
>orbit the Sun with us. But NO!
>
>What would it take to construct a dozen or so medium sized
>telescopes around the world, so that they can't all be clouded out?
>Link them up with enough computer power to keep track of the things
>that might threaten the Earth with a collision and start trying to
>discover more. It seems such an obvious solution. Ah, we are so
>smart that we let politics and funding stand in the way of our very
>survival.
>
>Crazy, man, crazy;
>Steve Coe
There seems to be more interest all the time. The problem is right
now if we found a problem object, we have no means to do anything
about it. NASA is afraid to even send a mission to Hubble let alone
to deflect an object in space. Destroying or altering the course of
an asteroid is not a simple task and nearly impossible with short
notice.
Does anyone recall what issue of S&T (many years ago) that had a
daytime photo of an asteroid/meteor skimming the atmosphere and
bouncing back into space. I was amazed at the photo. It showed this
fiery mass zipping across the sky.
Jeff.
--
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
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