Year Of Close Shaves

This year has seen several asteroids zip past Earth at close range, in astronomical terms.  That fact has not been emphasized by the American media, at least, which has been focused on the U. S. election campaign, the civil war in Syria, and several other admittedly big stories.  Unfortunately, by some standards, the only way planetary defense will become a big story is if we find ourselves in the cross hairs of a large asteroid or comet with the collision scheduled in the not-too-distant future.

Hopefully, we are wise enough, and lucky enough, to put some plans in place before that, regardless of jourmalistic interest.