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Question
If i discover an asteroid comet or meteor coming this way (not that i'm saying I have) but if i did should i contact NASA?
I don’t think it is possible for you to discover a comet or asteroid coming this way — how would you be able to compute its orbit and decide that it would come close to Earth? Determining an accurate orbit and predicting future positions of an asteroid or comet is done today using multiple observations over several weeks all carefully linked to each other and to the positions of known stars. The actual orbit calculations are carried out by big computers at JPL and the University of Pisa (see neo.jpl.nasa.gov for examples). The job of discovering near-Earth asteroids is mostly done by the professional astronomers in the Spaceguard Survey (see impact.arc.nasa.gov). Some comets are still discovered by amateur astronomers. The clearing-house for all of this information, and the place were preliminary orbits are calculated, is the international Minor Planet Center in Cambridge Massachusetts (www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html). That is were most discoveries are reported, not to NASA.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
March 25, 2009
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