In 2013 a 56 foot diameter space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia releasing the energy of 450 kt of TNT and filled local hospitals with some of the 1,500 people who were injured. Fortunately no one died. In 1908 a 200 ft diameter meteor exploded over a largely unpopulated region at Tunguska, Siberia knocking down trees over a 750 square mile area. If it had hit over a populated area it could have caused a million casualties. The approximately 250 people in the USA that NASA has working on asteroid detection and ways of mitigating the effects of an asteroid impact have plenty to do. We still have to locate and track about a hundred very large asteroids which could produce global climate change. Further, there are approximately 14,500 undiscovered slightly smaller ones which could cause a hurricane sized footprint damage areas to land areas on our planet. Fortunately it is extremely unlikely that any but one of the smallest space rocks will hit the Earth in the next 100 years.

On 27 December 2024 the Atlas group in Chile discovered an object now known as 2024 YR4 which appeared to have a significant chance of impacting Earth 22 December of 2032. The most recent data indicates the chance that 2024 YR4 impact Earth is about 1 in 25,000.  These data indicate our moon has about a 1 in 700 chance to be impacted by this space rock. Even so astronomers are preparing for 2028 when 2024 YR4 willagain come within the range of our instruments.   Current data indicates 2024 YR4 will miss the Moon by less than 1000 miles on  2032 December 22 giving astronauts there a Merry Christmas.

I was observing with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt Lemmon, Arizona when a fast moving object appeared on a set of four images of the same area of the night sky. After I sent the discovery observations to the Minor Planet Center this new object was observed by telescopes in Arizona, Germany , South Bohemia in the Czech Republic , Chile, Pennsylvania , Italy, Hungary, and France. 2017 FE101's unusual path about our Sun is inclined by 53 degrees to the plane where the planets and most of the rest of the asteroids are located. In September of 2016 it was not observed by humans as it streaked by at an amazing 22 miles per second. Once every 125,000 years or so a 5 football field sized asteroid like 2017 FE101 collides with our planet producing a crater 4 or 5 miles in diameter, inflicts damage over a hurricane sized foot print on the Earth's surface, and in some cases throws up enough debris into the atmosphere to produce global climate change. Since on its current path, 2017 FE101 can't come closer than about 21 times the moon's distance from us , this very large space rock is not currently classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Rest assured that my team the Catalina Sky Survey and asteroid hunters world wide will keep track of 2017 FE101 as it comes near to Mars and Earth to make sure that its path does not change to make it a threat to our home planet.

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Hydra with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when a fast moving unknown point of light passed through a set of his images.
After Greg reported his observations to the Minor Planet Center for the next 10 days it was tracked by observatories in Arizona, Italy, Hawaii, Australia, and Argentina.  Citizen scientist H. A. Güler analyzed these data.  The Minor Planet Center published the discovery of the near Earth asteroid 2018 CN41. The discovery was deleted when the object turned out to be a Falcon Heavy Rocket Upper stage with a Tesla roadster attached.

A clear night with excellent pinpoint star images allowed me to discover 16 near Earth approaching asteroid candidates with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt Lemmon, Arizona. This 9 hr period of time provides us with a snap shot of the kinds of objects which constantly zip past our home planet. Thirteen of the candidates turned out to fit the definition of an Earth approaching object, two were lost because of a lack of additional observations, and the other one is an inner main belt asteroid which for a time imitated an Earth approaching object The thirteen close approachers travel about the Sun with orbital periods ranging from 3.6 years to only 248 days. The largest is more than a quarter of a mile in diameter while the smallest is about the size of a small U-Haul truck. Most of them stay relatively far from Earth with the closest approacher having the possibility of coming to within three quarters of the Moon's distance from our home planet. One of the more interesting members of the group is 2017 FU90, a 100 foot diameter space rock which makes frequent visits to the vicinities of Mercury, Venus, Our Moon and Earth. It must be made out of pretty tough stuff since it doesn't melt or evaporate when once every 248 days it is closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury. If it is composed largely of iron, nickel, and other metals it could be a target for space mining. Astronomers will need to obtain a spectrum of the patterns of colors sunlight it reflects to get an idea of its chemical composition.

Astronomers have yet to discover any long lasting natural object, beside our Moon, which orbits the Earth, however, occasionally, a small space rock enters into a temporary dance with our home planet.

If you are luckier than a hundred million dollar power ball winner you will see your space rock as a meteor streaking across the sky, fall to the ground, and land in a place where can you walk over and pick it up. On the other hand, with more persistence than luck you can find a space rock where it has been waiting for you on the surface of planet Earth . First you need a place to look. Dry lake beds have few surface rocks and can be a great place to find meteorites. There are strewn fields from known celestial falls that you can check out. On private land will you need the owner's permission. If you live near BLM land you can collect up to 10 lbs of meteorites a year without a special permit. Train your eye by looking at photos of meteorites and/or make a visit to a museum to view the real thing. A dark fusion crust is a clue. Thumbprint like surface features is another. A powerful magnet will tell you if your candidate has a high iron content consistent with meteorites An exciting new way to find freshly fallen space rocks involves the use of Doppler weather RADAR to track pieces of an exploding fireball on their way to Earth. There are web sites which can alert you to places to travel to and search.

NASA has decided to make the lunar south pole the focus for human space exploration.  It is a rough area consisting of  high mountains, valleys, and craters.One serious problem is that the highest possible elevation of the Sun in the target landing areas is 7° making it akin to driving your car into the west at sunset.  Such lighting conditions provide serious challenges to piloting landers, operating rovers,  walking, operating tools, and just generally getting around.

Eliminating NASA's climate research programs is a bit like someone who has a CT scan which reveals a health problem demanding that the CT scan machine be destroyed instead of looking for a cure for themselves. On March 7, 2017 the Arctic Sea ice reached a record low wintertime maximum extent. The maximum Arctic ice cover in 2017 was about a half million square miles smaller than the average for 1981 to 2010. From the first satellite observations in 1979 till 2017 the Arctic sea ice cover has continued to get smaller and thinner making it more easily disrupted by ocean currents, winds, and warmer temperatures than ever before. Even so it appears that it will be a while before ships begin to make the long sought northwest passage from Europe to Asia. At the opposite end of the Earth on March 3, 2017, the end of summer sea ice around Antarctica was at the lowest extent ever observed by satellites. This surprising result followed several decades of moderate sea ice growth. It will take a few more years of data to determine if there has been a significant change in the trend of Antarctic ice sheet growth. Cutting funding for NASA's observations and analysis of the changes happening on Earth will not stop human activity from warming our planet's atmosphere. Get ready, changing the ocean surface from ice to open water is likely to have a significant, complex, and hard to predict impact on weather and climate.

Recently , for the first time, the sight and sound of a meteor impact was recorded by a doorbell camera on Prince Edward Island, Canada.  Fortunately the event occurred a few minutes after Joe Velaidum the home’s owner had been standing at the impact point on the way out to walk his dogs.  Joe himself considers it to be a near death experience.