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Overview of Orbits
Author(s) -
MARSDEN BRIAN G.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48334.x
Subject(s) - asteroid , amateur , solar system , opposition (politics) , astrobiology , sky , computer science , hazard , categorization , homogeneous , astronomy , physics , artificial intelligence , law , political science , biology , ecology , politics , thermodynamics
After a brief summary of the distribution of both large and small bodies in the solar system, there follows a categorization of the various hazards from comets and asteroids, the concept of PHA, or “potentially hazardous asteroid,” being introduced to include one that is large enough and can pass close enough to the Earth's orbit that it might conceivably yield a globally‐damaging impact in the forseeable furture. Future search stragtegies are discussed, as they involve increasing both sky coverage and faintness limit, arguments being given for ensuring much fainter detections in the general opposition region than at much smaller elongations. It is concluded that a proposed “impact hazard scale” is generally less useful than recognition of the PHA status. The current situation with regard to follow‐up astrometric activity, particularly by amateur astronomers, is viewed favorably, but professional search activity is at a depressingly low level.