< What are the chances that much of life could once again be snuffed out by a collision with an icy comet? Rather small, but there are plenty of asteroids in the heavens capable of causing devastation. Astronomers have identified more than 130 asteroids whose paths could intersect earth's orbit. Consisting largely of rock or iron, some are over a mile wide and could ram the earth at 65,000 km (40,000 miles) per hour. The odds of a strike within the next 50 years are probably less than one in 10,000. But whenever it does happen, the explosion could dwarf a...
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