Celestial Billiards Table

Our terrifyingly crowded solar system

"It's not just our country that's a little over-crowded - our whole solar system is too.
A fascinating colour-coded video illustrates how we have become increasingly aware of the number of asteroids flying close to Earth as telescopes improve.
The footage shows the discovery of every new asteroid over the past three decades and charts it on an increasingly congested map of the solar system.
Created by British astronomer Scott Manley, the three-minute clip - which is the equivalent of two months per second - starts with a sprinkling of white 'dust' around the edge of the planets."
"Asteroids are small solar system bodies that orbit the sun. They are smaller than planets, and are sometimes referred to as minor planets.
Their size ranges from 950km for the largest known asteroid, Ceres, to just tens of metres across.
Small asteroids - five to 10 metres in diameter - enter the Earth's atmosphere about once a year, but normally explode before impact. Larger minor planets - of about 1km in size - strike every 500,000 years."



Jupiter Gets Smacked Again

Something big hit Venus last month