Risk For Asteroid Collision
A 70-meter-long asteroid zoomed past Earth March 8 and came within 288,000 miles of the planet. Astronomers didn't see it until four days later because it traveled through an astronomical blind spot. "The blind spot was there because the asteroid came from the direction of the sun during the day," says UAB physics professor Perry Gerakines, Ph.D. "Astronomers don't usually point telescopes directly at the sun because the light can damage a detector's components and harm the eyes." Gerakines says the odds of such a large asteroid blindsiding Earth is in the millions to one. "Some NASA scientists say a particular person's odds of being affected by an asteroid collision is comparable to those of being in a major airline accident.
Contact Jennifer Park, Media Relations, 205-934-3888 or [email protected].
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