Yesterday I published a reminder to be sure to check-out the Perseid meteor shower. The shooting stars you may observe are a consequence of the our earth passing through the debris field left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle.
A word about this heavenly body.
Swift-Tuttle completes its circumnavigation of the sun once every 133 years. Because it is sixteen miles wide it can cause a world of hurt (pun intended) if it strikes something. Every time it it returns to our inner solar system it gets closer to us and our moon.
If this sucker were to collide with earth the impact would be three hundred times more devastating than the asteroid or comet that struck and wiped-out the dinosaurs.
Astronomers who study such stuff like doomsday events have guessed that a real threat won't manifest itself for another 2,000 years. I sure won't be around to witness it. Nevertheless, the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) keeps tabs on things for us. Funded by NASA and operated by the University of Hawaii an array of four telescopes located in Hawaii, Chile and South Africa keep watch on the sky for near-earth objects that may present a threat to us earthlings.
Sleep tight.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment