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As I understand it we are tracking certain asteroids that we predict have a chance of impacting on the following encounter with earth depending on what the outc
by datameta 3y ago
As I understand it we are tracking certain asteroids that we predict have a chance of impacting on the following encounter with earth depending on what the outcome is of passing through a per-basis volume called a "keyhole". So it isn't that we detect them when they are a decade out on a direct trajectory.
- throwaway4aday 3y agoThose are the ones we know about. If you think about the problem, it really is a very difficult one to solve. We're attempting to find and track tiny objects that could be anywhere in an absolutely massive volume of space using almost entirely ground based equipment that is hobbled by competing demands, atmospheric distortion and a very inconveniently nearby star that halves the observation time and makes it really hard to find objects on that side of our orbit. For all the fancy animated maps of the many asteroids we have located there are likely still a very large number of other asteroids we don't know about yet and may not find out about until after the fact.
- datameta 3y agoOh certainly, from that angle yes it is a massive undertaking indeed!