Dr Amy Mainzer, principal investigator on the Neowise (Near-Earth Wise observations) project at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in California, said that "estimating the ages and origins of the asteroids should help us to correlate events on Earth and impact craters on the Moon with what is going on in the Solar System".

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Among its other discoveries, in 2011 Wise spotted in a "Trojan" asteroid ahead of the Earth in its orbit.

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As a result of that wise choice, our national economy thrived, and eventually became the richest on earth.

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And in 1951, Wise tackled what was to become a sci-fi classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with Michael Rennie.

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Duke Nukem burst onto the scene in 1991 as the wise-cracking, cigar-chomping, woman-loving tough guy who must save the Earth from invading aliens, and does so with all the irreverence and hyper-masculinity of a Hollywood action hero.

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Using NASA's WISE infrared satellite, astronomers estimate there are about 5, 000 known meteors that can impact the Earth with sizes of about 100 feet or larger -- that is, larger than the Chelyabinsk meteor.

CNN: A meteor and asteroid: 1 in 100 million odds