Astronomical speed trap catches its 1000th asteroid

Astronomers reached a 1.6 kilometerstone* recently: They observed the 1,000th near-Earth asteroid via radar.

That’s a lot of rocks. But it’s only a fraction of what’s out there.

Near-Earth asteroids (or NEAs) are pretty much as advertised: Asteroids that get near Earth. Specifically they’re defined as any asteroid with an orbit that drops it as close as 145 million kilometers of the Sun (1.3 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun).

As of September 2, 2021, there are 26,520 NEAs known. N...