The End of the…Oh, Never Mind
(From the May/June 1998 issue of StarDate magazine)
Science has long debated how to redirect an asteroid should one be discovered on a collision course for Earth. An atomic blast in space? A missile? Try recalculating your data.
In March, astronomers from the Spacewatch program at the University of Arizona and the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams made headlines with news of an asteroid that would pass within 30,000 miles of Earth in 2028. The margin of error in their calculations left open the possibility of a cataclysmic direct hit by the huge space rock, dubbed 1997 XF11.
In publishing their findings, the astronomers sought observations from their colleagues to refine their estimate of the asteroid's orbit. A day later, Jet Propulsion Laboratory astronomers who specialize in calculating the orbits asteroids and other solar system bodies offered a revision. With formulas that mission controllers used to chart the Galileo spacecraft's course through the asteroid belt to Jupiter, the JPL astronomers estimated 1997 XF11 would pass no closer than 600,000 miles from Earth -- and the world breathed a sigh of relief. -- Doug Addison
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