QuinCunx

English: asteroid 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To Deflect Asteroids From Earth, Deploy Paintballs By The Ton | Popular Science :  " Paek 's strategy is fairly simple: Five tons of paintballs full of white powder would be launched towards an asteroid from a nearby space craft , 20 years in advance of a possible collision with Earth. The force of the pellets hitting the object will push it off course, but also the reflectivity--the albedo--of the white paint would increase, and over time the photons bouncing off the surface would also force the asteroid away from our planet. How has no one ever thought of this before?" Related articles Could paintballs deflect an asteroid headed for Earth? To Deflect Asteroids From Earth, Deploy Paintballs By The Ton Paintballs Could Deflect Asteroids From Earth Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid Paintballs Proposed to Deflect Asteroids Paintball Pellets Could Deflect an Asteroid from Destroying Earth Paintball...

Image by Wade Tregaskis via Flickr First Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55 - YouTube : "Using radar data, scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory created this six-frame movie of asteroid 2005 YU55. The data was obtained Nov. 7, 2011 using NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar (located at the Deep Space Network facility in Goldstone, Ca.) At the time, the space rock was approximately 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers) away from Earth . At its closest approach on Nov. 8, 2011, YU55 will be about 200,000 miles from Earth. It poses no threat. Resolution is 4 meters per pixel." Related articles NASA Snaps New Photo of Incoming Asteroid (science.slashdot.org) Will Asteroid YU55 Hit Earth? (newsworldwide.wordpress.com) City-Block-Size Asteroid 2005 YU55 to Buzz Earth Today - Fox News (foxnews.com) Asteroid to Pass Close to Earth Tuesday (online.wsj.com) NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth (spacefellowship.com...

Image via Wikipedia Aircraft Carrier-Sized Asteroid Zips Past Earth | Fox News :  "Nov. 7, 2011: This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 shows the space rock 3.6 lunar distances , which is about 860,000 miles, or 1.38 million kilometers, from Earth." Related articles City-Block-Size Asteroid 2005 YU55 to Buzz Earth Today - Fox News (foxnews.com) NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth (nasa.gov) Astronomers expect close call on asteroid flyby (cbsnews.com) Big asteroid to make close, harmless zip by Earth (mercurynews.com) Asteroid to fly by Earth Tuesday; no chance of impact (ctv.ca) How to get a peek at speedy 2005 YU55 (msnbc.msn.com) Your guide to the asteroid encounter (cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com)