How to Avoid an Asteroid
What are the chances?
Small rocks and dust from space rain down on Earth all the time—several hundred tons fall every year. Most burn up in the atmosphere or leave pebble-sized meteorites.
The space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs was huge, about 6 miles wide. Luckily, asteroids this big are rare. And space is vast. The chances of a big wandering rock crossing Earth’s path when Earth is in the way are