Posts Tagged ‘Earth’

Backward green comet makes one-time only visit

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer Tue Feb 17, 3:23 pm ET
WASHINGTON – An odd, greenish backward-flying comet is zipping by Earth this month, as it takes its only trip toward the sun from the farthest edges of the solar system. The comet is called Lulin, and there’s a chance it can be seen [...]

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Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: How Safe Are We from Killer Asteroids?

Features -  February 12, 2009
Largest near-Earth objects are already well characterized, but smaller ones could surprise
By John Matson

In 1998, the year Deep Impact and Armageddon dueled for the attentions of apocalypse-from-the-heavens moviegoers, Congress tapped NASA to prevent such a cosmic cataclysm from becoming reality. The space agency was charged with cataloguing over the next decade the vast [...]

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Green Comet Approaches Earth

Comet Lulin is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now.
Provided by NASA, Washington, DC

Amateur astronomer Jack Newton took this image of Comet Lulin with his 14-inch telescope on February 1, 2009, from his backyard observatory in Portal, Arizona. [View Larger Image]

February 9, 2009
In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in [...]

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