Is the Sky Falling?

 (540) 365-4300/ dhailey@ferrum.edu

           Chicken Little may be right. And the world may need to do some more planning on what it would do if an Armageddon (1998, Bruce Willis) scenario really did play out. What would the scientific, military and academic worlds do if a large asteroid were plummeting toward the planet Earth? Could we destroy it with nuclear weapons, push it off course with a huge laser beam, move the trajectory of Earth to avoid the collision? Dr. Jay Huebner, professor of natural sciences at North Florida University, will visit Ferrum College on October 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Garber Hall auditorium, to speak on the subject of asteroids falling to the Earth.

           “Accounts of asteroidal impacts on Earth are sprinkled throughout literature, even the Bible. Earth bears scars from hundreds of such impacts, some over 100 kilometers across,” says Huebner.

           Huebner has studied asteroids for 30 years and is currently working to find solutions regarding the inevitability of disaster via asteroid. He is researching ways that technology can help to avoid Earth’s destruction and to use the asteroids as a raw material in space industries, possibly serving as another energy source.

           The event is free and open to the public. For more information on the presentation, call Dr. Dave Johnson at 540-365-4364.

           Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. To learn more about the College, call 1-800-868-9797 or visit www.ferrum.edu.

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