Look up, way up, I'll call Rusty and Jerome . . .

According to Harvard astronomer Tim Spahr, a small asteroid will burn up in the earth's atmosphere tonight. Damn, all the good cataclysms happen after my bed time.

Actually it's asteroid 2008 TC3 and it's on track to burn up over Africa. Lucky bastards. So scientists have complied this list of asteroids, 5681 of them, of which a mere 757, or 10% or so are big enough to cause us any trouble. Ah science has a way of taking the end of mankind and the start of the next ice age and making it all sound like comparing gas mileage on mini vans. And just to make us all feel better the chance of an object 1km in size or bigger striking the earth is about 1 in every half million years. What a load off. So all we have to do now is figure out when the LAST one hit.

So it got me started thinking about other hits and misses. One of the best known impacts is the Barringer Crater near Winslow Arizona. Also known as Meteor Crater it was formed about 50, 000 years ago by an object about 50 metres across. Interestingly enough it is the only privately owned crater on earth. The Barringer family own it. Just goes to show you that being at the right place at the right time . . .

In the less drama but more of them category we have the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve in Australia's Northern Reserve. Actually a crater field of about 15 impacts ranging in size from as small as 7 metres across to the big one at 180 metres. Locals had known about the area for a long time but interest flared when a 92 kilgram meteorite crashed in neighbouring Karoonda in 1932. That woke 'em up.

On the other side of the world in Kaali Estonia we have the Kaali Craters. A series of 9 impacts produced craters as large as 110 metres across and 22 metres deep. The date of impact is sketchy but it's believed to be about 100BC.

And in Saudi Arabia we find the Wabar craters. Actually Harry St. John Abdullah Philby found them in 1932. You may remember a famous commie spy, Ken Philby? His Dad. Again this is an impact field with craters larger than 100 metres. This one is a new one, having occurred within the last 200 years.

Sleep tight.