Shivers down your spine could have come from recent reports alleging a “planet killer” asteroid the size of Mount Everest. Not so bad, dinosaur aficionados; this specific space rock isn’t nearly large enough for a worldwide extinction disaster. The revelation does, however, serve as a sobering reminder: near-earth objects (NEOs) are a very real occurrence and continuous tracking and maybe …

Global panic is mounting as sensational news reports scream about a “planet killer” asteroid on a collision course with Earth. But before you start hoarding supplies and building a bunker, let’s take a moment to sort out the facts from the fiction. Imminent Annihilation or Overblown Threat? It’s important to understand that astronomers are constantly monitoring near-Earth objects (NEOs) – …