asteroids stories

 
About once a year, Earth gets hit by a space rock the size of truck, unleashing the same amount of destructive power as an atomic bomb. So far, we've been lucky, but in the interest of planetary security, the US Air Force might start sharing secret satellite data on meteorite impacts with scientists.
How many asteroids have been discovered since 1980? A lot of asteroids. This video, by Scott Manley, shows them all as they were discovered over time. You can see new discoveries in white, with their color changing to show where they are in relation to the inner solar system.
 
It's the kind of story that every kid dreams up: a school project turns out to be a secret mission from an agency such as NASA, and all of a sudden it's up to the youngster to solve it. That's exactly how it played out for three high school students in Massachusetts, who, it turns out, were helping NASA solve quite the conundrum.

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