March 05, 2004

Government to reward amateur astronomers. The U.S. House almost unanimously passed a bill today that would award asteroid hunters up to $3000 for their discoveries. It now goes to the Senate. The risk of asteroid and comet impact is detailed magnificently by the Australian Spaceguard Survey, which has probably the best page on cataclysmic tsunamis. Just eighteen months ago a meteor hit Siberia, devastating a remarkable 40 square miles.