Looking Up - 26 October 2018

Don't get hit by an asteroid from outer space! You may be glad to know that Prof. John Tonry and Larry Denneau from the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy are looking out for you. They'll be mounting a telescope in South Africa as part of their project. The ATLAS programme (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) surveys the area in the solar system around Earth as an early warning system in case anything threatens our existence. It's highly unlikely that they will find a NEO (Near-Earth Object) but you never know, and then it's up to Tom Cruise to save the day! Or some other method we haven't tested yet to nudge the rock out the way.