Artistic images of hypothetic impacts on the Earth.
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Summary: The Solar system isn’t made just from the Sun, the planets and the well known asteroid belt and comets, but it also contains numerous NEOs (Near Earth Objects). From time to time, they hit the bigger bodies of the Solar system (remember the surfaces of the Mercury and the Moon). Today we see the results of big impacts on the Earth in mines and interesting landscapes (like the meteor lake in Canada). But, the influences were bigger in the time of the impacts which were a catastrophy for living beings (Tunguska explosion in 1908, the extinction of dinasours 65 million years ago). Every day one NEO of 10 meters in diameter passes within the orbit of the Moon. The possibility of a big impact is 1:2000 in a lifetime. After the Shoemaker-Levy comet, people have become aware of the danger. The Spaceguard Foundation received financial support, but it’s still having big problems in its initial work and mission.The USAF Clementine mission failed to observe asteroid, is it now time for the new Clementine? What are the probabilities, our chances to survive, if some big NEO is discovered on the way to hit the Earth? Questions, questions ... seaking the answers ...
Links. http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/sst/main.html http://mi.astro.it/SGF http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/fr77/
