Are we prepared for the possibility of an asteroid impact? (Image: Don Davis/NASA)
THE sight of the solar system’s biggest planet being battered by the broken remains of a comet in 1994 left a vivid reminder of our own planet’s vulnerability. The scars that remained after the series of giant impacts on Jupiter were more prominent even than its great red spot, and remained visible for months.
This dramatic spectacle was enough to loosen government purse strings, and the funding has supported telescope surveys to hunt down asteroids that could wallop us. A decade and a half after comet Shoemaker-Levy…
