The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
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NASA Space Telescope Finds Fewer Asteroids Near Earth

  • NEOWISE observations indicate that there are about 20,500 (new model) near-Earth asteroids in total that are larger than 330 feet -- 43 percent less than previous estimates of 36,000 (old model). Red dots represent asteroids while the green circles are the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars shown to scale. Green dots mark the planet locations.

    NEOWISE observations indicate that there are about 20,500 (new model) near-Earth asteroids in total that are larger than 330 feet -- 43 percent less than previous estimates of 36,000 (old model). Red dots represent asteroids while the green circles are the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars shown to scale. Green dots mark the planet locations.

    NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Low Resolution Image