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Any object with a MOID lower than 0.0026 AU is : http://www.brera.mi.astro.it/sormano/sael.html#SAEL

That is, several a year, and depending on the size, several a month.

Sure, the US could push for a multilateral approach to space exploration. Now, stop and think about the current state of affairs in the 'states and you'll see why this isn't likely to happen.

We do cooperate on some things, like the International Virtual Observatory Alliance.

Which amongst others includes contributions from :

• America
• Australia
• China
• Canada
• Europe
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• India
• Italy
• Japan
• Russia
• Spain
• United Kingdom

Well at least one person disputes it:

Nagler's comment on Murphy's law: Murphy's law was propounded not by Murphy, but by another man of the same name.

I.V.

Actually there are about 100 people worldwide searching for NEOs according to NASA's Ames Research Centre Asteroid Coment Impact Hazards Website.

The most productive NEO search program is the USAF/MIT run LINEAR which has discovered more NEOs than all other search programs combined.

Other search progrms include

• NEAT
• Spacewatch
• Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search (LONEOS)
• Catalina Sky Survey
• Japanese Spaceguard Association (JSGA)
• Asiago DLR Asteroid Survey (ADAS)

I haven't been able to read the article because it's slashdotted, but it makes me wonder why they would have something like the Torino Impact Scale if they weren't going to use it to inform the public. So far only one object has ever has ever been classifed a "1" on the tornio scale, but that doesn't look like it's going to a a problem. But with most NEOs still unidentified the most likely warning we will have is none at all.

• LBT (Large Binocular Telescope)
  
• Swedish 50m Telescope
  

I would just like to note there are a number of cluster surveys going on out there. Including one, called the REFLEX survey, that uses the same data, the ROSAT All Sky Survey, as the MACS survey as a starting point.

What makes cluster surveys interesting is not just the scientific output but the various means of finding clusters people are trying. For example, the MACS survey mentioned above uses a Voronoi tesselation of the original X-ray data to detect and find sources. Other surveys use wavelet techniques, such as the SHARC survey (to pick one out of the air) or adaptive kernel smoothing, such as the Northern Sky Optical Cluster Survey.

Is it a bit odd to see what I do for a living on /.

The submission has one detail wrong - the neutron star is orbiting the other star in only 11 minutes. The situation is the same as the Earth going around the sun (the definition of a year) in only 11 minutes.

Neutron stars actually spin much faster than that. The neutron star B1937+21, discovered in 1982 rotates in 1.6 milliseconds (625 full spins per second). Rapidly spinning neutron stars are also called pulsars, because of the radio pulses they emit. One of the first pulsars discovered was the neutron star in the middle of the Crab Nebula, which rotates 33 times per second.

Obligatory links:
Jodrell Bank
Parkes
Arecibo

If we look only at the object mass, we would have a lot of planet between the other planets' moons. If we accept the arbitrary limits of 10E23 grams (IMHO it is by far too low), we have Jupiter's Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede; Saturn's Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Iapetus; Uranus' Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Neptunus' Triton and lastly Pluto's Charon. Also three asteroids (Ceres, Pallas and Vesta) should have the planet status, this time with full rights, because of the independent orbit.

The limit cited is suspiciously low and too near to the new object's mass: can this be a case of freudian error or a plain mistake? I'm not a planetologist (IMNAP), but I think the limits should read 100,000 billion billion Kg (10E26 grams). If we accept this limits (also arbitrary) nearly all things get OK, leaving only Pluto (1.27E25 g) in the cold. For some time Pluto has been discussed if should be considered a huge asteroids or a very small planet, but historical reasons had prevailed and it held ith planetary status.

All physical data can be found, for instance, at here& lt;/a> and in the related mirrors, also some pictures are available.

The bacteria discovered in antarctic ice would either die on Titan or be totaly unable to reproduce. They were found near a freshwater lake under the ice. Lake = liquid water = 0 celsius (ignoring pressure effects). No reproduction = no world domination.

We are talking fundamentally different atmospheric and environmental conditions. Sure, there are organisms still around on earth which can survive a reducing atmosphere. However, they depend upon certain environmental conditions of temperature, pressure, food sources, and so on which are not going to be present on Titan. While earth bacteria may "survive" through dormancy, the risk is miniscule. Remember, the basic building blocks of life as we know it are not even going to be present, except at (unlikely) extremely low concentrations. There may be a mix of amino acids, but they will not be the right ones. Different stereochemistry and functional groups from what earthlife requires. Not "likes" but requires . There may be sugars, but they will not be the right ones. Without a biochemical pathway (specific enzymes) to deal with these compounds, earth life cannot sustain or reproduce itself.

Also, without liquid water (Titan has a surface temperature of -178 degrees) earth life has a rough time of it. I challenge you to name a single organism on this planet that grows or reproduces without any liquid water and the basic (specific to earth) chemical building blocks present. It may survive freezing, but survival is not a threat to any potential life on Titan.

Sure, NASA will be careful if this probe ever gets built, and it is worth taking all conceivable precautions, but the odds of finding anything other than a few interesting molecules on Titan are remote. You had better hope that Huygens (probe already on it's way to Titan's atmosphere) was cleaned to your specifications, as it may already be too late :)

Darren