NOV 6, 2000 - Near-Earth Object Program is the NASA/JPL website focusing on these unique little asteroids - one of which just made news in a big way right around Halloween, appropriately enough. Actually it was just a couple days after Halloween when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced the discovery of a new Near-Earth Object (NEO), an Earth-grazer designated 2000 SG344, which was described as having about one chance in 500 of smacking into our home planet in the year 2030. Since that original communique, NASA/JPL has received new data which indicate a clear miss in 2030, but a possibly near thing 41 years later. We shall see. Not to worry, there are thousands of yet undiscovered NEOs out there, any one of which is capable of doing us like one of its predecessors did the dinosaurs. Hundreds of contenders for that dubious honor are described in the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids section. You'll also find plenty of information you can use to derive ephemerides for your favorite NEOs, along with copious information on the search programs and spacecraft missions that keep an eye out for these celestial interlopers. (Don't miss the News & Updates, incidentally.)
Technical note: Web Site Garage rates Near-Earth Object Program fair over-all and in load time (21.85 seconds with a 28.8k modem). In comparison, the page you're now reading rates good in both categories, with a load time of 11.54 seconds at 28.8k.
