If you think this
doesn't concern you, pick a number from
1 to 40 ... Say this number represents a fortune. Now ask
yourself, with only 39 others in the hat, wouldn't you stick around for the
lucky draw, or at least take time to check the result? If so, then consider this:
those were the odds we faced in a recent asteroid discovery.
A slim 1-in-40 raffle ticket with no winner, only losers.

Artwork by David A
Hardy
4 minutes, 46 seconds
That's how much time it would take asteroid Apophis
(2004MN4) to cover the 3,380 km that it's predicted to miss Earth by on Friday the
13th in April 2029. Less than five minutes earlier or later, and it would have been
a very unlucky day for everyone. Mankind's darkest day will be avoided in less time
than it takes to change a light bulb ... [Continued]
Why FAIR?
An astounding fact is that astronomers hunting for
near-Earth
objects (NEOs) are so
handicapped by lack of funding that some observatories have recently been
forced to close, in spite of mounting evidence that asteroids are far more numerous than previously believed. This is a
contradiction in logic; we should be posting more telescopes, not
closing them.
What's the point of the FAIR Society website?
To raise funds in the simplest way possible. Fair Society
offers a solution, not an additional worry ... [How FAIR
Works]
Who gets the money
raised by FAIR?
The scientists who need
it! All the money raised by the FAIR Society is
allowed to accrue over a year. Administrative costs (5%) are deducted and then the final balance of (95%)
is made over the projects posted by various organizations for
consideration by the FAIR Society. Once a project has been funded, it is reported on the [Funded
Projects] page.
Armageddon and
Deep Impact
Great films,
spectacular effects: but the technical gadgetry at Bruce Willis's disposal
is a long way from reality. One only has to look at the Space Shuttle's
record to see that Hollywood scripts can do NASA a disservice, leaving
us with an unrealistic impression of their defensive capability against incoming
asteroids and comets ... [The
Reality]
When was the last time
you did something out of the ordinary?
Something
different like joining a society against a threat from space. The most devastating phenomena
known to man is only partially researched purely because this field of
astronomy is so financially hamstrung.
We
can never stop earthquakes, volcanoes, or wild weather...
But,
we could prevent an asteroid impact. No other science can so precisely
predict and act upon a global threat, providing it equipment and
funding.