Cosmic Collision

In 1994, Comet Shoemaker-Levy hurtled straight into Jupiter. For the first time in history, astronomers were eyewitnesses to a cosmic collision of a magnitude that would have destroyed the Earth. It is to avoid such a catastrophe that scientists study the path of asteroids such as Toutatis, which will just miss our planet in the year 2004, and continue on its way. In all probability, no giant asteroid will threaten us in the near future. But science is still able to detect only a small number of such potentially dangerous cosmic objects. Concerned but hopeful, astronomers share with us their passion for the stars - those heavenly bodies that are so close and yet so far away.