Puzzling asteroid observations explained by destruction of asteroids close to sun

For two decades it was thought that most near-Earth objects (NEOs)--asteroids and comets that may pose a hazard to life on Earth--end their existence in a dramatic final plunge into the Sun. A new study published on Thursday, Feb. 18, in the journal Nature finds instead that most of those objects are destroyed much farther from the Sun than previously thought. This surprising new discovery explains several puzzling observations that have been reported in recent years.