"All Clear" given on potential 2040 impact of asteroid 2011 AG5

And of course the point is that NASA, being a Gov agency is obviously subject to any protocols in place by the Gov dealing with National Security matters. So if they discover ANYTHING that is deemed a threat to National Security you can bet your behind that they'll cover it up.
Anything.

Originally posted by JayinAR
But of course, if something is discovered years out, it only makes sense that they would seek all the help they could get tracking its trajectory. If you've got years, you can come up with a plan.

I'm not even talking about something years out.

reply to post by JayinAR

And of course the point is that NASA does not have exclusive access to the discovery of NEOs.

reply to post by Phage


Who does have exclusive access? That could be a very interesting reveal.

reply to post by December21st2012

Nobody. There are hundreds (thousands) of people looking for NEOs. A large one would be seen by many and word would spread.

I suppose (probably incorrectly) most of those are amateurs, they must have limited equipment. I bet when you tally up the number of major players to some serious hardware, the list becomes a bit shorter.

reply to post by December21st2012

www.dailymail.co.uk...

news.discovery.com...

www.universetoday.com...

uanews.org...

And the bigger they are (as in, those which would be planet killers) the easier they are to find.

reply to post by Phage


Well of course, Phage. You are stating the obvious. In the scenario I presented it would be up to amateurs to break the news. They'd probably be under pressure not to do so, however.

reply to post by JayinAR


When a new object is discovered, its coordinates are posted on the Minor Planet Centre confirmation page. www.minorplanetcenter.net... From there, it's up to anyone with a decent telescope to confirm the object and help with calculating its trajectory.