PLEASE NOTE:
*
Date sent: Tue, 20 May 1997 08:25:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Benny J Peiser <B.J.PEISER@livjm.ac.uk>
Subject: NEO News (5/19/97)
To: cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Priority: NORMAL
Dear friends and students of NEOs:
David Tholen of the University of Hawaii sends the following
rather
disturbing commentary on the level of misunderstanding from his
college students in the area of NEOs and the NEO hazard. Or maybe
this
is a commentary on problems of communicating technical
information via
television.
On another subject, the number of formal "hits" on the
NASA Impact
Hazard Homepage is above 110,000, which is thought by the experts
to
correspond to more than one million hits on various parts of the
website. The address is: http://impact.arc.nasa.gov
David Morrison.
================================================================
During the course of the spring semester, I had the opportunity
to
recommend two television programs to my introductory astronomy
students, namely the Discovery Channel's "3 Minutes to
Impact" and
National Geographic's "Asteroids: Deadly Impact", which
aired on NBC.
One student asked if extra credit could be earned by watching one
or
both of the programs, and the class generally supported the
opportunity to earn extra credit, though I required a written
report.
As professionals, we welcomed these programs as being technically
accurate for the most part, but did they tell the story in a way
such
that the general public would get the point? The written reports
gave
me an opportunity to gauge the level at which a subset of the
general
(college educated) public appreciates the impact hazard issue.
Here
are some excerpts:
"There are many hundreds of asteroids located in the
galaxy."
"Most of these asteroids are no bigger than the earth's
moon."
"Asteroids appeared to be a firey ball traveling through the
galaxy."
"Usually asteroids don't survive through the earth
atmosphere
because of all the chemical compounds in the atmosphere."
"In conclusion Gene figured that the small objects traveling
at
these high speed created the large crater on the moon and on
different location in the galaxy."
"This film, the 'Deadly Impact' coved asteroids and their
impacts
on the universe."
"In General astroids were described as small firey balls
that
travels through the galaxy."
"This actually says a lot about the density of astroids.
They
are much more dense than the earth's surface."
"Not only did Gene Shoemaker question the craters, he also
began
to question the fundamental principles of his profession."
"They appear to be small fire balls that travel through the
galaxy."
"A crater in the Arizona dessert is what Gene Shoemaker
began to
study."
"Scientist Jean Shoemaker....was bewildered with the large
crater
he looked at. What would cause a impact so massive? What if the
same impact collided with our planet earth?"
"Some meteorites are the size of Manhattan..."
"Jean Shoemaker finally resorted to a conclusion. He used a
pistol to demonstrate."
"Along the trim of craters, Jean has found piece of glass
which
indicate asteroids."
"If one of these asteroids or comets cross the path of
earth, it
will surely collide."
"Since comets are closer than stars, Jean use the telescope
Little I....They called a friend who had access to the Big I....
This was the first time a comet was actually photographed."
"The comet did collide into Jupiter and left a similar
impact to
the one on Earth. The possibilities of an object colliding with
earth can now greater."
"Scientists have invented a missile that would hit the
target and
throw it off coarse."
"Jean Shoemaker, the first scientist to travel to the moon,
a
looking scientist..."
"This event could be our apacholypse. Jean Shoemaker a great
and
still active scientist, he is still looking through the telescope
with his wife, his only partner."
"How do these great beings come to exist?" [in
reference to
impacting bodies]
"Kuper Belt...York Clouds"
"The development of 'Space Guard', headquartered in Rome,
was a
world-wide participation to find all asteroids out in space. It's
effort did not last long because its funding was eventually
cut."
"Currently, according to the video, only amateurs are
discovering
these asteroids and comets and not professionals. Money is needed
to be able to find those objects which cannot be seen beyond the
unaided eye."
"Im March 23 of 1993, many telescopes were aimed into the
night
when comet Shoemaker smashed into Jupiter..."
"Because these asteroids were so tiny compared to the stars
surrounding them, they had to use a microscope to find
them."
"This comet grew into a blazing streak of light that would
eventually impact Jupiter."
"This meteorite blew a hole right through the trunk and
fender
of a 1980 Chevy Malibu. This is proof of the power of impact an
asteroid or meteorite possesses."
"But these small pieces are dangerous and can be very
harmful if
contacted with human flesh."
"...a small observatory they called Little I."
"...Hubbell Space Telescope..."
"In fact the video pointed out the fact that Japan only
spends
some $1 million in the study of asteroid disasters. Now, it
makes sense that if one of the worlds most affluent country
cannot be moved to spend billions, if not trillions of dollars
to avert a potential disaster (potential because no one can
accurately determine where and when the asteroid will hit) it is
safe to say that other countries would not consider it."
"The comet was really an asteroid torn into pieces by the
force
of Jupiter's gravity."
"In 1908 while Gene was working on a government experiment
in
Nevada..."
"On March 23, 1993 while observing the sky for traces of the
big
bang, Gene Shoemaker discovered his first comet, comet
Shoemaker."
"A crater in the remote area of Siberia..."
"On March 23, 1993, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet was founded
by
Shoemaker, his wife, and Levy."
"Asteroids are not something you can read about."
"He traveled to Germany and discovered a church built there
had
rock from asteroids."
"Eugene his wife and a colleague now work on the Halimer
mountain with a small telescope called the little eye."
"This comet was extremely large and was about to hit
Jupiter.
It was so large that Jupiter gravity tore it into a few
peaces."
"...Meteor Canyon....caused by a gigantic asteroid."
"They blew up the negative and found that it was indeed an
asteroid."
"...when it enters the earth's atmosphere, the asteroid is
broken into smaller pieces. Asteroids as big as a mile across
are broken down so they are not deadly..."
"He also got the opportunity to see an asteroid hit Jupiter
and
create an impact crater, a dream he had hoped would happen in
his lifetime."
"The oldest meteoroid crater by the way is nearly 2 billion
years old."
"Amd when something big deicides to have earth at its path
there
is only one solution that we have come up with, and that is to
try and destroy it with a Russion missle."
I suppose it's worth noting that the multiple people who
described
asteroids as fiery balls traveling through the galaxy watched the
video as a group, so this perception isn't quite as widespread as
indicated by the excerpts above.
As far as educating the public goes, we've got our work cut out
for
us.
Dave Tholen