Asteroids are material left over from the formation of the solar system. Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planetss They range in size from a diameter of about 1000 km, down to the size of pebbles. Most asteroids are contained within a main belt that exists between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Some have orbits that cross Earth"s path and have even hit the Earth in times past. One of the best preserved examples is Barringer Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona.
In March of 1989, asteroid 1989 FC came within 690,000 kilometers of the Earth. Let me give it to you in another way that might make this more real. It crosssed the earth"s orbit at a place where the earth ahd been six hour earlier. That"s way too close. But who knew?
In 1908 a bolide (firey asteroid) hit an uninhabited are of Russia, close to Tonguska, Siberia. It incinerated hundred so sq. miles of land with a force 1,000 times as great as the Hiroshima atomic bombs. But guess what. Had Asteroid FC hit the earth it would have been 15-20 times more powerful than the 1908 hit.
One of the developing theories about what is coming in 2012 is known as Planet X or what the Sumerians call Niburu. Planet X is the 10th planet. It does exist. It wasn"t officially discovered until 2005 though of course ancient civilizations knew it existed 5,000+ years ago. How do they know these things? The name that was given this new find is 2003-UB313. Doesn"t sound all that exciting does it? So, it was changed to Eris. What will it"s effect be on the sun? COuld it have unanticipated gravitational and electromagnetic reprecussions for 2012?
Or could something be coming our way from the Kuiper belt? What"s NASA not telling us?
In another lucky miss, in 1994, Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter causig fireballs larger than planet earth. A direct hit here and I would not be writing this commentary, nor would you be reading it. What we"re not aware of is that therer"s an estimated 25-30,000 small dull comets (mostly frozen ice) that slam into our atmosphere DAILY!
What scientists are agreed upon is that we face an interesting trifecta around 2012 that consists of heightened sun spot activity, unique planetary configurations, and the date with an interstelalr energy plasma cloud that"s not going to treat us welll at all.
While asteroid collisions are rare and far between (thank God), they can"t be ruled out and there"s not enough time to try and devise some sort of defense system against such incidents- other than an increased collective consciousness or noosphere advancement. Will that help? Is there anything that we might do? :-)