Looking for Near-Earth objects (NEOs) has demonstrated a simple fact: there are a lot of rocks in space, and many of them come very close to Earth. We have tracked the orbit of all the biggest NEOs, but the smallest ones reflect so little light that our telescopes can only snap when they are close. It is not surprising, then, to see tens of tiny asteroids being discovered only when they are about to pass by Earth. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Amateur astronomer Tony Dunn must have been particularly impressed by the November crop of new asteroids to have put the 18 space rocks that passed Earth within the orbit of the Moon into a wonderful orbital graphic – each one discovered just that month. <span class="fr-m

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