Near Earth Objects (NEO) whose orbits may on the part of space he is interested in and eventually cross the Earth's celestial path. then snaps a series of pictures over a set interval. Robbins said the hunt is personal. "Say we get three pictures," he said. "Then "I really believe that there is a good we get the computer to put the pictures possibility that we're going to get hit" by an together and flash them, or make them errant asteroid, Robbins said. "If an object blink. comes near the Earth, the question is "Stars don't move. Stars move because the always if it will hit us." Earth turns, but we're moving with the In 1988, Robbins noted, when the Harvard stars. But the asteroid is moving amongst University-based Minor Planet Center first the stars. began tracking threatening celestial o "So when we flash the images, or blink bjects, there were 25 known objects that them, we see the asteroid [a tiny white dot came close to the Earth. among hundreds of white dots] jumping "Now there are over 2,000," he said. "Some along." of them get very close and are potentially hazardous. This is an important problem." Great teachers make complicated things simple. Here is how Robbins explained his discoveries. Using government grants, Robbins buys time at $200 an hour to remotely control ground-based telescopes located in the Arizona mountains. Using advanced software and digital cameras, Robbins positions the telescopes $OVR )HDWXUHG RQ VLOLYH FRP
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