> [snip] > I thought it *was* detected by someone paid to do > exactly that? >
Not paid very much it seems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siding_Spring_Survey And someone else tracked it after the discovery by way of funding provided by The Planetary Society. This is not the scale of skywatch program we need. If people can scream about CO2 emissions, they damn sure ought to get a bit scared when a rock is discovered only 1.5 million miles away, heading basically right for us. What could we do in less than a week? With more advance notice, we might be able to do something. My guess is, asteroid defense doesn't make a ton of money for the select group, nor does it allow some people to control others. But all that aside, it is unquestionably important to do something about this. Rendezvous with Rama by the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke comes to mind. No, not suggesting that this was an alien spacecraft :) Just that the asteroid detection program was interesting. If during this financial mess we can monitor volcanoes (which we can do NOTHING about), we can watch the skies a little better. Ironic that moving a rock up there is much easier than stopping a volcano from erupting and possibly letting someone or some turbofan breathe in a bit of dust. On that note, it seems that birds and rubber boots have more dangerous effects on aircraft than some dust. I'd actually like Rick Monteverde's opinion on this as well...seeing as he is both near volcanoes, and near some of our best observatories. Rick? --Kyle
