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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1999
> July
> July 30, 1999:
Hour One: Asteroids, comets, and meteors - oh my!
| Remember all the fuss last year over an asteroid that might crash into the Earth -- followed by a giant "never mind?" Well, scientists meeting this week at the International Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Conference at Cornell University remember it too. On this hour of Science Friday, we'll bring you up to date on current efforts to identify and track potential threats from space, as well as some research into the nature of asteroids, meteors, and comets. | 
(image courtesy Don Davis - NASA) | A group of astronomers has proposed a new scale for assessing the threat a space object poses to the planet. The Torino Scale, the space equivalent of the Richter Scale for earthquakes or the Beaufort Scale for storms, rates space objects on a scale of 0 to 10 according to their kinetic energy and their likelihood of hitting the Earth. A zero on the scale means that an object poses no threat, while a ten means probable global catastrophe. The astronomers hope that the new scale may help quiet future media feeding frenzies over announcements of impact risks. We'll talk about the idea, and about the research that went into it.
We'll also take a look at the progress of NASA's mission "Deep Space 1," which passed within just fifteen miles of an asteroid on July 29th. The mission, part of a test of technology to be used in future NASA projects, zipped the small probe past the asteroid "Braille" (1992 KD) to test an automatic navigation system. During the flyby, the craft attempted to take a number of pictures of the asteroid for astronomers. We'll find out how the flyby went.
Join guest host Brooke Gladstone for an asteroid roundup on this hour of Science Friday.
Guests:
Bonnie Buratti
Staff Scientist
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California
Paul Chodas
Research Scientist
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California
Richard Binzel
Professor of Planetary Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Deep Space 1 News & Information
Near Earth Object Program
Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards (NASA Ames Space Science Division)
Science Friday, March 13, 1998. Asteroid Tracking
Planetary defense page
U.S. mirror site,
Spaceguard Foundation
Deep Impact
- This segment produced by:
Tom Clarke
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
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