As the COVID-19 crisis continues around the planet, humanity’s gaze is firmly fixed on the pandemic playing out around us. Meanwhile, more than 100 of Earth’s largest research telescopes have been forced to shutter their doors, Astronomy magazine reported this week.
It’s the perfect time for an asteroid to strike, many space fans deadpanned in reply.
But there’s no need to worry about an incoming asteroid — not any more than usual, at least. Despite the closures, Earth’s top asteroid-hunting instruments remain on the prowl for potentially deadly space rocks.
NASA funds most major asteroid-hunting efforts. The space agency has a congressional mandate to find some 90 percent of near-Earth objects (NEOs) larger than 460 feet across. As the name implies, NEOs are comets and asteroids that get a little too close for comfort.
