MUFONET-BBS NETWORK  -  MUTUAL UFO NETWORK
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                    ASTRONOMY NEWS - WIRE
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³=START=   XMT: 07:56 Mon Sep 23  EXP: 08:00 Mon Sep 30      ³
³                                                            ³
³AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMER USES NEW ASTEROID TO BOOST MASS       ³
³EXTINCTION THEORY                                           ³
³                                                            ³
³CANBERRA (SEPT. 23) XINHUA - AN AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMER HAS   ³
³DISCOVERED AN UNUSUAL NEW ASTEROID THAT LENDS WEIGHT TO A   ³
³THEORY THAT GIANT COMETS PERIODICALLY FRAGMENT AND BOMBARD  ³
³THE EARTH, CAUSING MASS EXTINCTIONS.                        ³
³                                                            ³
³TWO WEEKS AGO DR DUNCAN STEELE USING THE BRITISH SCHMIDT    ³
³TELESCOPE FOUND A NEW ASTEROID IN AN ORBIT THAT TAKES IT    ³
³CLOSER TO THE SUN THAN MERCURY, BEFORE SWINGING OUT PAST THE³
³EARTH.                                                      ³
³                                                            ³
³WHEN HE COMPUTED THE ORBIT OF THE ASTEROID, DESIGNATED 1991 ³
³RC, HE FOUND IT WAS HIGHLY UNUSUAL AND ALMOST IDENTICAL TO  ³
³THAT OF A LARGE ASTEROID DISCOVERED 42 YEARS AGO, CALLED    ³
³ICARUS.                                                     ³
³                                                            ³
³DR STEELE SAID IN A PAPER RELEASED TODAY THAT IT WAS        ³
³EXTREMELY UNLIKELY THAT ICARUS AND 1991 RC SHARED THE SAME  ³
³ORBIT BY CHANCE THE LIKELY EXPLANATION WAS THAT BOTH HAD    ³
³BEEN CREATED BY THE BREAK-UP OF A LARGER OBJECT, PROBABLY A ³
³COMET, WITHIN THE PAST FEW THOUSAND YEARS.                  ³
³                                                            ³
³HE SAID ICARUS, ALTHOUGH CLASSIFIED AS AN ASTEROID,         ³
³EXHIBITED IRREGULARITIES IN ITS ORBIT THAT SUGGESTED THAT IT³
³WAS EMITTING POWERFUL JETS OF GAS, JUST LIKE A COMET, WHEN  ³
³IT APPROACHED THE SUN.                                      ³
³                                                            ³
³DR STEELE ALSO SAID IN HIS PAPER THAT THE NEW SCIENTIFIC    ³
³DISCIPLINE CALLED CATASTROPHISM WAS DIVIDED OVER THE NATURE ³
³OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL IMPACTS. AMERICAN SCIENTISTS FAVORED THE³
³IDEA OF CATASTROPHIC IMPACTS BY SINGLE COMETS OR ASTEROIDS. ³
³                                                            ³
³BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS ARGUED THAT THE EARTH WAS ³
³PERIODICALLY SUBJECTED TO A SERIES OF IMPACTS SPREAD OVER   ³
³THOUSANDS, EVEN TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS.                 ³
³                                                            ³
³THE MULTIPLE-IMPACT THEORY FOLLOWED FROM EVIDENCE THAT LARGE³
³COMETS CREATED SWARMS OF SMALLER COMETS AND METEOROIDS WHEN ³
³THEY BROKE UP.  DURING THE PERIOD WHEN A GIANT COMET WAS    ³
³FRAGMENTING, WHICH MIGHT TAKE BETWEEN 10,000 AND 100,000    ³
³YEARS, THE EARTH WOULD BE ORBITING  IN HEAVY TRAFFIC , DR   ³
³STEELE SAID.                                                ³
³                                                            ³
³=END=                                                       ³