Planetary Defense: By the Numbers - August 2021

☄️ What do we know about the asteroids and comets in Earth’s neighborhood? Planetary defense — which includes finding, tracking, & characterizing these near-Earth objects — is part of NASA’s mission. Here’s what we’ve found so far. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that orbit the Sun and come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit. While many NEOs have been found and closely studied, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office was established to manage the agency’s ongoing efforts to find, track, study, and if necessary, lead efforts to mitigate a potentially hazardous NEO that could pose a potential impact threat to Earth. To learn more about NASA’s ongoing Planetary Defense efforts, visit