Word: comets
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Amateur astronomers around the world can now receive monetary compensation for their comet discoveries, thanks to the annual Edgar Wilson Award, announced this June by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics...
...from L.A. to Washington, arrive at a designated parking place, and do it all while getting 300 m.p.g." By the same analogy, could the car then drive on to other cities too? Apparently. Barring problems, DS1 will have enough fuel and navigational smarts to proceed to a burned-out comet called Wilson-Harrington in January 2001 and, as its grand finale, to Comet Borrelly later that year...
...Pasadena, Calif., who discovered the asteroid in 1992, recommended the name to honor Jaroff's "well-researched, insightful articles and essays on scientific subjects" and his efforts to "draw attention to the issue of NEOs [near earth objects] and the potentially catastrophic consequences for our civilization should a large comet or asteroid strike the earth." The 7829 Jaroff has a diameter of 8 to 10 km--about the size of the comet that killed off the dinosaurs. He points out that his asteroid is so far considered benign, meaning it does not threaten to intercept the earth's orbit anytime...
...guys, how's this for a twist? Let's take the end of the world seriously. Geez, how square can you get? No postmodernist, pre-apocalyptic ironies; a not-entirely-improbable cataclysmic threat--a giant comet hurtling earthward with no funny aliens anywhere in sight; special effects that serve the story plausibly; and a certain largely understated courage, as representative examples of humankind attempt to resist or try to accept the awful fate awaiting them. There's something curiously refreshing in the soberly inspirational way Deep Impact embraces the conventions of the old-fashioned disaster movie. You find yourself hoping...
...Brightest Light The heavens were lighted last spring by the magnificent Comet Hale-Bopp, which whizzed within 120 million miles of Earth. Countless people turned out and craned up to see it--among them 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult who took the comet as a sign that it was time to take their lives. That they did, leaving a dark blot on a brilliant event...