Researchers from the University of Hawai'i have looked into how asteroids can sneak up on us without detection. The study was undertaken by astronomer Dr Richard Wainscoat, who joins the show to discuss.
Despite their best efforts, astronomers recently discovered a blind spot in telescope algorithms. Large asteroids coming from this direction will be undetected by NASA. Fortunately, there are a few countermeasures for this asteroid danger.
Despite their best efforts, astronomers recently discovered a blind spot in telescope algorithms. Large asteroids coming from this direction will be undetected by NASA. Fortunately, there are a few countermeasures for this asteroid danger.
It seems one can’t buy a car these days that isn’t equipped with obstacle-detection and accident-avoidance systems to compensate for the blind spots that hide these dangerous encounters. Too bad the same isn’t true for planets! NASA just revealed that its fancy-schmancy asteroid detection system has a major blind spot that causes it to miss. Read more »