Word: cometted
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...calculations suggest that asteroids packing the explosive energy of one megaton should enter the atmosphere on an average of once every 30 years, larger asteroids with a 20-megaton punch every 400 years, and a 1 km, 10,000- megaton comet or asteroid once in 100,000 years...
This century has already seen a major meteorite blast. In 1908, either an asteroid or a comet exploded about five miles above the remote Stony Tunguska River region of Siberia, igniting and flattening trees over hundreds of square miles. From descriptions of the blast and photographs of the damage, scientists have estimated that the object was at least 200 ft. across and caused a twelve-megaton explosion...
What if a large asteroid or comet is discovered heading toward the earth? At the AGU meeting, Shoemaker and Colleague Alan Harris, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., suggested that the intruder could be diverted by landing a thrusting device on it. As a last-ditch effort, they say, a small nuclear warhead could be detonated on or near it. Says Shoemaker: "We have the technology to do that right now." But if the explosion simply broke the meteorite into large chunks, the danger would only be multiplied. "The more prudent solution," says Harris, "is to burrow...
...three days a fast-walking visitor can hop across continents by taking a boat down the Yangtze River, touching an exact model of the Soviet spaceship that ventured through Halley's comet and seeing John Lennon's flower-decorated Rolls-Royce. One of the chief delights of most visitors seems to be filling Expo passports with the stamps of each country. Children, adults, everyone wants a stamp. When the emblem of the Ivory Coast failed to arrive during the first week, a slim young woman in a long black-and-white dress made do by patiently writing in each book...
Still, it is tempting to poke around, especially among the new features that appear with dizzying regularity. For example, during the height of the comet craze, CompuServe users could type GO HALLEY and shop electronically for comet locator maps, reading lists, Halley hats and a T shirt emblazoned with HEAVENLY BODY OF THE YEAR. They could also find directions to prime U.S. viewing spots, sign up for comet-watching ocean cruises, enter weekly comet . trivia quizzes and participate with dozens of other Halley's addicts in an onscreen round-table discussion of comet news and lore...