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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary ReportVolume XXIX, Number 2, March/April 2009
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Credit: NASA |
Vredefort is the oldest and largest visible meteor impact crater on Earth. With a diameter of roughly 300 kilometers (about 190 miles) it is twice the size of Chicxulub crater associated with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Named after the town of Vredefort, which is situated near its center, this crater is located in the Free State Province of South Africa. Vredefort is one of Earth's few multi-ringed impact craters; they are more common elsewhere in the solar system. This image was taken on August 29, 1985 by an astronaut on board the space shuttle.
From The Editor
Jim Bell, the new president of The Planetary Society, really hit the ground running with the Members' Survey that you received in the mail a few weeks ago. Even as I write this, we are receiving responses and tabulating and analyzing the results.
We will report to you soon on the final tallies (send our membership department your e-mail address if you haven't already), but we've already seen some results come booming through, loud and clear.
For example, we asked "Which of these Planetary Society projects and activities do you support?" The choice of "Monitoring potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroids and comets" is an overwhelming favorite so far.
There's obviously some sort of confluence of energy about this topic, because we've been planning to increase our efforts in this area, beginning with the article "The Quest to Find the Next Killer Asteroid--Before It Finds Us" in this issue of The Planetary Report. In a few months, you'll receive a special issue of The Planetary Report on near-Earth objects and the threat they pose to our civilization.
Meanwhile, we're getting ready to announce the winners of our most recent round of Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grants, and two of our previous winners have been in the news lately: Quanzhi Ye, who co-discovered comet Lulin, and Jean-Claude Pelle, who helped track asteroid 2009 DD45 as it passed only 40,000 kilometers from Earth on March 2.
Thank you for your survey responses--we're already acting on your directions. Together, we will fulfill the mission of The Planetary Society to explore other worlds, protect this one, and seek other life.
—Charlene M. Anderson
Features
We Make It Happen! Who Will Survive? Ten Hardy Organisms Selected for the
LIFE Project
by Amir Alexander
The Quest to Find the Next Killer Asteroid--Before it Finds Us
by Steve Chesley
Annual Report to Our Members
Departments
World Watch
Questions and Answers
Society News
Members' Dialogue
The Planetary Report is available only to Members of The Planetary Society. If you'd like to read these and other exciting features, JOIN THE PLANETARY SOCIETY TODAY!
MEMBERS: Download this and other back issues of The Planetary Report in PDF format from the For Members section of the website.
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