Summary

This topic describes the low-probability but high-consequence hazard posed to Earth by asteroids and comets.

This topic describes the low-probability but high-consequence hazard posed to Earth by asteroids and comets. The book introduces the astronomy of Solar System bodies and describes the evidence for past impacts on Earth, both small impacts such as Barringer Crater that formed 50,000 years ago and extremely rare events such as the end-Cretaceous impacts at Chicxulub. The book also examines the consequences of a major impact on present-day Earth and the progress towards detecting the potentially threatening bodies that orbit close to the Earth.