http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_keyhole
The danger is not over. A *gravitational keyhole* is a tiny region of space where a planet's gravity would alter the orbit of a passing asteroid such that the asteroid would collide with that planet on a given future orbital pass. On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 5:14 PM, Eric Walker <eric.wal...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 1:08 PM, Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote: > > asteroid - and determined that in the unlikely event it hit something >> fairly >> large in Earth orbit, the asteroid orbit could not be deflected >> substantially enough to be at risk. >> > > If the mass of an orbiting satellite is sufficient to deflect the incoming > asteroid, I doubt the asteroid is big enough to do much upon impact. If > the asteroid is big enough to do much, I doubt the mass of a satellite > would deflect it even by a small amount. > > Eric > >
