One Wrong Hit Could Send an Asteroid on a Collision Course with Earth

It was a chilly night when I peered through my 10” Meade LX200 telescope from Norfolk in the UK! I wasn’t completely convinced it would appear nor even be visible but bang on the prediction, asteroid 2002 MN drifted by my field of view and I was amazed at how accurately we could predict its path! That precision in tracking asteroid trajectories has become even more critical now that we’re actively exploring how we can deflect them. A team of scientists have made a discovery about asteroid deflection that’s both fascinating and sobering at the same time. Hit an asteroid in the wrong spot, and you might accidentally steer it through a “gravitational keyhole” that sending it back toward Earth years later.