NASA Discovers 25,000 New Asteroids
And as an example of how infrequent it is for an asteroid to crash into our planet, not one of the 25,000 is aimed for Earth.
It’s a pretty impressive haul for WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), finding that number since last December, and also discovering 15 new comets. The telescope is up in space, just like the famous Hubble. Being infrared, it can “see through impenetrable veils of dust, picking up the heat glow of objects that are invisible to regular telescopes.”
While I wouldn’t pretend to know if the $320 million cost is a good investment for science, as an early warning system it is extremely cheap if we can somehow avert a disaster in 2012 or any other year.
Well, if there were any, do you think they would tell the public? … lets be honest here … over the last few years we have had a few that exploded high in the atmosphere with next to no mention in the news
What will the next haul for WISE bring? The “Destroyer”
We are close enough to 2012 that they would know about any comets that were heading our way I think. I seriously doubt they would say anything even if they did but it also seems like it would be hard to keep quiet. There are so many different people exploring the solar system that even if one person was covering it up someone else would see it as well.
@Ray: Most comets are discovered by amateurs. NASA only looks at a narrow band of the sky where asteroids are mostly discovered.
Well, if this thing is real, it should be visible before the end of this year for all to see … no NASA gag order will keep it quiet then.