More education needed

["Zack Clayton" <zack.clayton@epa.state.oh.us>]

Or, to misquote Shakespeare:   First we get rid of the managers.

This  great statement is *from* NASA,  Donald Yeomans is the manager 
of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program.  The retraction was for the impact prediction,
not the outrageous statement about a nuclear blast.

          . . ..The object, designated 2000 SG344, is either an asteroid about 200 feet in
                 diameter or a 35-foot-long Apollo-era rocket booster. It was discovered
                 Sept. 29 through a telescope in Hawaii.

                 Before the new data was revealed, Yeomans had said that if the object was
    >>>      an asteroid it could create a ``fairly sizable nuclear blast'' if it struck the Earth.

                 The retraction and downgrading was the second embarrassing asteroid
                 announcement in recent years. Scientists at the Minor Planets Center in
                 Cambridge, Mass., generated headlines worldwide in 1998 when they
                 announced that a mile-wide asteroid had a chance of hitting Earth in 2028.
                 The prediction was retracted a day later when further calculations were made
                 by JPL.

                 That incident led the International Astronomical Union to create new
                 guidelines for announcing events of such magnitude. New rules call for
                 announcements to be made after astronomers reach a consensus that a risk to
                 the planet exists and states that an announcement be made publicly within 72
                 hours of such findings.

                 Yeomans said the new observations were released Friday shortly after he
                 held a news conference.

                 ``We followed the rules to the letter,'' he said. ``I have no regrets. I'd do the
                 same thing again.''



Zack Clayton
Ohio EPA - DERR
email:  zack.clayton@epa.state.oh.us
voice:  614-644-3066
fax:        614-460-8249

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