Asteroids are distinguished as small solar system bodies that orbit a sun. Specifically, we consider small planetoids that orbit around our sun to the distance of Jupiter to be asteroids. Asteroids are usually rocky or metallic. Their composition varies greatly from one asteroid to the next. Due to their orbit in the solar system many… Read Article →
Posts By: jhgood
It was an asteroid 65 million years ago that hit the Earth in Russia and set up a plume of smoke that enveloped the earth. This caused years of wintry conditions. It was this episode that caused the demise of the dinosaurs and the ascendency of birds and mammals. We thus owe our evolutionary position… Read Article →
My colleagues and I do a lot of sitting around late at night, drinking coffee and chatting. We have to wait for the telescope to move into position. We input data on the computer and then we wait for the computer to do its calculations and give us a read out. All these operations take… Read Article →
Here is an explanation of the Torino Impact Hazard Scale. This is the internationally recognized scale for talking about the risks posed by asteroids and comets hitting the earth, or coming close enough to the Earth to cause damage. This is a danger that is not simply confined to sci-fi movies and novels. It is… Read Article →