China to Search for Risky Earthward ObjectsChinese astronomers have planned to build a monitoring station to search for risky earthward minor planets and comets that might collide with the Earth.Yang Jiexing, an astronomer in charge of the project, said Thursday the station will be built in Tieshanshi State Forest Park in Xuyi County in Jiangsu Province, east China, at an estimated expense of more than 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million). He said the searching plan is the necessary step before any measures could be taken to prevent any possible disastrous collision between the Earth and minor planets and Comets. Chinese astronomers will use the telescope to search for any risky earthward minor planet and comet, and then figure out their orbits so as to make sure whether they will pose any threat to the Earth, said yang. Yang said the location is an ideal place for them as the park has a wide view and the night sky there is very dim with fine weather for most of the year. The telescope to be installed is a near earth telescope which has a diameter of 1.2 meters, said Yang, who works for the Nanjing-based Purple Mountain Observatory. The project is expected to be completed by 2002 with funding from local and central government departments and contributions from Hong Kong. He said the Earth has been hit many times in history by foreign space objects, such as minor planets and comets, leaving lots of aerolite-related pits on the surface of the Earth. "The most recent event took place in 1906 when a piece of aerolite with a diameter of 50 meters hit forests in Siberia, leaving 2,000 sq. km forest destroyed," he said. According to the Sciences Times published Monday by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, British and other European scientists are probing ways to change the orbits of minor planets using nuclear bombs if they are deemed to pose threats to the Earth. Orbits of the Earth and some of the 200,000 verified minor planets are overlapped, which may lead to collision, the paper said. |
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