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ENIGMA A CLose CALL FROM Deep SPACE ENIGMA CLOSE CALL SPACE FROM DEEP A collapsed star, a Black Dwarf dubbed "Enigma", is reckoned to be ona trajectory bringing it within 300,000 kilometres of the Earth in March 2003, perhaps close enough to produce significant climatic and geophysical effects. In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. — Ronald Reagan, President, USA in Speech to the United Nations General Assembly 42nd session, September 21, 1987 hen Ronald Reagan delivered that speech back in 1987, some people suspected that he might be afflicted with some debilitating mental ill- ness. Later, during the congressional hearings on the Iran—Contra affair, when Ronnie couldn't seem to remember anything, the majority of the public was driven to the same conclusion. And when he was finally diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, we all felt sad—but justified—in our earlier assessments. Looking back today, you really have to wonder how "disabled" he actually was. Was Ronnie Right? What Did He Mean Exactly? If you've been reading the papers or watching TV lately, then you've probably seen some weird stories. Even the mainstream press has been running odd bits on close asteroid approaches, UFOs and even on how a small asteroid impact could trigger global thermonuclear war. Evidently, this material has somehow made the successful leap from yellow tabloid journalism to Washington Post respectability. As official GX [Graphic Exchange] chronicler of all things metaphysical, astro- nomical or conspiratorial, I took it upon myself to get to the bottom of this potentially dirty pile of laundry. That, as I was soon to find out, would be a fitting analogy, as much of the "official" record has clearly been sanitised. When Reagan made that seemingly bizarre statement at the UN, did he know some- thing that we (the general public) don't know? Was he talking about little green men, or something else? People have been exploring the universe with telescopes since at least the time of Galileo (though the well-informed will contend that it began much earlier than that), and we've made some thoroughly amazing discoveries. We've plotted the orbits of all the planets in our solar system and the relative position of our galaxy with respect to its neighbours, and we've even made great inroads in determining the ultimate origin of our universe. Three of the most important object types we've come to study are comets, asteroids and the stars (including our Sun), each of which presents unique wonders—and potentially fatal dangers. It is postulated that the dinosaurs, which once roamed and ruled the Earth, were wiped out almost entirely by a single asteroid strike about 65 million years ago in the vicinity of the Yucatan Peninsula, off the coast of present-day Mexico. The planet is pocked with evidence of other similar impacts, such as Chesapeake Bay (USA) and the Manicouagan Crater (Canada). These craters, made by asteroids measuring between 5 and 15 kilometres in diameter, wiped out the considerable majority of life on Earth, but smaller objects are constantly bombarding the planet with less devastating results. In 1908, a small asteroid (measuring about 60 metres across) exploded in the atmosphere above Tunguska, Siberia, and flattened 2,000 square kilometres of forest—and probably a few million caribou along with a number of hunters and trappers. by José Chung © 2002 Email: chung@gxo.com First published in the October 2002 issue of Graphic Exchange magazine Toronto, Ontario, Canada Website: http://www.gxo.com José Chung story archives: www.gxo.com/spacejunk/archives NEXUS 29 by José Chung © 2002 Email: chung@gxo.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com