The image above is of asteroid 2016 AJ193, the 1,001st near earth asteroid that has been clocked by planetary radar since 1968. But there are about 27,000 near earth objects. What are they? Here’s more from Centauri Project:

The significance of planetary radar for simple security is obvious. Including telescopes on the ground and in space, we’re tracking close to 27,000 near-Earth objects, characterizing them through observations like the recent Goldstone work. The more we learn about the size, shape and composition of NEOs, the better we’ll be able to resolve questions about their trajectories and any future danger they might pose. This, in company with data from asteroid missions like Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx, will help us tune our threat mitigation strategies if we ever do have to nudge an NEO.

See and learn more!