Word: widely
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Almost as worrisome are the estimated 300,000 asteroids larger than 300 ft. wide that also come perilously near or intersect Earth's orbit; each could inflict Tunguska-like damage over a large region. The number of Earth-crossing asteroids larger than 60 ft. across, says University of Arizona astronomer Tom Gehrels, could be as high as 100 million. A hit by any one of them could destroy a large city...
...NASA contributes only $1.8 million annually to asteroid hunting--astronomers fear it will take decades to discover most of the larger objects. With only a few million more dollars a year, they say, and with access to the other two Air Force satellite-tracking telescopes, most of the kilometer-wide and larger asteroids could be identified and tracked within 10 years...
...years and orbits before its predicted impact, the solution would be straightforward. "You apply some modest impulse to the asteroid at its closest approach to the sun," says Los Alamos' Canavan. "The slight deflection that results will amplify during each orbit, ensuring that the asteroid misses Earth by a wide margin." That little push, he notes, could be provided by conventional high explosives...
...incoming rocks off their fatal trajectories. Armageddon is about tough guys doing a tough job in space, while Deep Impact (inspired by the '50s films When Worlds Collide and On the Beach) emphasizes the human drama on Earth. This is Hollywood, remember: the real-life asteroid is a mile wide; in Armageddon it's the size of Texas. Says producer Jerry Bruckheimer: "We always do things bigger." And faster; you needn't wait till 2028 for these big bangs...
...While half a dozen other companies offered competing browsers, Mozilla and its successor, Netscape Navigator, quickly became the best way to get around the World Wide Web. It was to the Web what Windows is to PCs; both had an 85% market share...