And then there's the recent black-eye and bloody nose Jupiter received from the Shoemaker Levy 9 comet impact. We have yet to know what sort of atmospheric changes Jupiter underwent as a result of that collision. In the News. Controversies and media specials drawing the public's eye. Hale-Bopp , just a scant year behind the spectacular Hyakutake.
Some people think so.
Now we should hardly discount the multitude of amateur astronomers who support those 19 professionals. Lest we forget, last year's spectacular comet Hyakutake was essentially discovered by an amateur astronomer with a pair of binoculars. So they do increase our chances a bit. We certainly have the firepower. Recent discoveries by many different astronomers have raised the speculation that there are just so many objects flying around within our solar system, interacting, colliding, and changing positions and orbits, that it's simply impossible to predict collisions.