A Wider Perspective
by Ms.
Whenever life's little problems and inconveniences get you down; when you can't find your keys, a friend, or that canceled check; when the most serious considerations weighing upon you are the economy, the many wars, the radiation laden planet, oil polluted seas, your mortgage, or rental terms, imminent domain's long reach, or that damn car needing a new battery, When your key won't work, or your cell phone's not getting through, and you can't trust the pesticide-laden vegetables or fruits you buy; when your back, or your heart aches, or your liver swells, or there are just not enough hours in a day to get what seems to need doing done; when death or disease threaten to deny you your sleep, destabilize your equilibrium, and ruin you plans for the week, just think - it could be all over in an unprepared for single cosmic click.
"On this day in 2002, an asteroid narrowly missed the Earth, passing by only 75,000 miles away, about one-third the distance between the Earth and the moon. Named "Asteroid 2002-MN," the rock was about the size of a football field, and it was traveling at 10 kilometers, about 6.2 miles per second. It was the second-closest pass by an asteroid
that we're aware of, although there are likely to have been others.
The closest, Asteroid 1994XL1, passed within 65,000 miles of our home planet. Had it struck the Earth, it wouldn't have caused global damage, but it may have made an impact similar to that of the Tunguska event of 1908, an asteroid that exploded in the sky over Siberia, flattening 800 square miles of trees." -NPR The Writers Almanac 6.15.1011-
Best Of Carl Sagan's
Cosmos
18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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