20 The two-body problem (and beyond)
Stargazers spotted a 60-meter asteroid heading toward Earth eleven months before a possible collision in February 2013. NASA expert David Dunham said, “The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision.” Computing this two-body problem with error-prone floats and traditional time step methods provided only guesses, not scrupulous assurance, that the asteroid would probably not strike Earth with the destructive power of a thermonuclear weapon. It missed by just a few thousand miles. Please forgive the ...
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