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by Ted Pedas The Cosmos The Vindicator May 31, 1998 ![[Article - The Cosmos]](../TedNewsSpaceRocks.gif)
Within the broad category of movies that deal with death from outer space there's a separate, smaller genre that focuses on a “meteor threatens Earth” theme. Two movies with this theme are prominent this summer — or, as one clever pundit puts it, “obliterating a theater near you. ” I imagine movies about the beauty of the night sky and the knowledge we could glean from asteroids and meteors wouldn't be blockbusters. There's a greater fascination with death and destruction, especially on a planetwide scale. I'll admit from the start that I haven't seen the newly-opened “Deep Impact.” Reviewers say the highly-promoted special effects — including the spectacular, city-destroying tsunami — come at the end of the film. Most of the movie explores the human side of disaster: who lives, who dies and who decides. Willis Film:The movie “Armageddon” is still in post-production. It features Bruce Willis as the hero on a mission to destroy an asteroid “the size of Texas” on a collision course with Earth. Other memorable entries in the “menacing meteor” category include the 1994 television movie “Without Warning,” in which a veritable meteor shower of deadly space rocks threatens our planet. In 1979, the movie “Meteor” has the United States and Russia combining forces to stop a meteor, and the 1951 movie “When Worlds Collide” has a rogue planet wandering around the solar system on a collision course for (where else?) Earth. And then there's the 1969 Japanese asteroid film that has had more titles than reviews. Of its six titles, including “Battle Beyond the Stars” and “The Battle of Space Station Gamma,” they settled on “The Green Slime.” Heroic space station astronauts are able to destroy an asteroid heading toward Earath, but — in wonderful Japanese movie monster tradition — they bring back a green slime that turns into one-eyed creatures that menace humanity. Take your pick: Rocks from space or monsters from slime — take your pick for the more deadly menace. If you're wise, you'll go with the rocks. Movie magic aside, “rocks from space” are real. From the tiny grains that make up spendthrift shooting stars to the huge asteroids and comets that pummeled our planet millions of years ago, we have plenty of proof that collision is a fact of life in the solar system. The craters on the moon, on Mars, under the clouds of Venus, on the rocky moons of the giant planets; all tell the story of impacts and collisions. Even Earth still bears the signs — Meteor Crater in Arizona, Clearwater Lakes in Canada, Monicougan Crater in Canada, and Spider Crater in Australia are clearly impact craters that haven't been erased by Earth's active surface. Other proof: We watched Jupiter taking the multiple hits of a shattered comet in 1994. We were glued to our television screens watching reality, not fantasy. The object that exploded over Tunguska, Russia, in 1908 was a large meteor or comet. Another meteor broke up and fell over the forest of Sikhote-Alin in Russia in 1947. Evidence is mounting that the impact that destroyed the dinosaurs and more than 60 percent of all living things on Earth 65 million years ago was created by a comet or asteroid six miles in diameter that fell on the Yucatan Peninsula. The small fishing town of Chicxulub is now located at the center of the 150 mile-wide crater that is partially buried under water. Recent concern: More recently, a Skywatch astronomer discovered a mile-wide asteroid that appeared to be on a collision course with Earth in the year 2028, but its orbital trajectory was later computed more accurately and it will miss us by more than 600,000 miles. Skywatch at Kitt Peak in Arizona and the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking program in Hawaii are the only two major projects that are tracking near-Earth asteroids. At a recent conference, space scientists report they've found four dozen “potentially hazardous objects” whose orbits will bring them close to Earth one day — too close for comfort. What's Coming: Even smaller objects can cause damage, especially to satellites. Some astronomers are already predicting that this year's Leonid meteor shower in November, expected to be near its 33-year peak in meteor activity, may damage some of the nearly 500 satellites orbiting Earth. The tiny particles are moving so fast that they can easily be compared to bullets. The European Space Agency's Olympus satellite was struck by a meteor in 1993 and its directional control was destroyed. Although the odds of damage are small, project's managers are planning to turn their expensive equipment in space away from the path of the incoming meteors to minimize possible damage. The Hubble Space Telescope, for example, will be turned to protect its optical system.
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![[Article - The Cosmos]](../TedNewsCosmos.gif)
Today's column marks the beginning of the 30th year for this weekly feature, and the past three decades have seen many changes.