interview by author, Manson, Iowa, June 18, 2001.
“G. K. Gilbert of Columbia University . . .” Lewis, Rain of Iron and Ice, p. 38.
“Gilbert conducted these experiments . . .” Powell, Night Comes to the Cretaceous, p. 37.
“only slightly more than a dozen of these things . . .” Transcript from BBC Horizon documentary “New Asteroid Danger,” p. 4, first transmitted March 18, 1999.
“He called them asteroids-Latin for ‘starlike . . .’ ” Science News, “A Rocky Bicentennial,” July 28, 2001, pp. 61-63.
“it was finally tracked down in 2000 . . .” Ferris, Seeing in the Dark, p. 150.
“twenty-six thousand asteroids had been named and identified . . .” Science News, “A Rocky Bicentennial,” July 28, 2001, pp. 61-63.
“cruising at sixty-six thousand miles an hour . . .” Ferris, Seeing in the Dark, p. 147.
“all of which are capable of colliding . . .” Transcript from BBC Horizon documentary “New Asteroid Danger,” p. 5, first transmitted March 18, 1999.
“such near misses probably happen . . .” New Yorker, “Is This the End?” January 27, 1997, pp. 44-52.
“some thirty thousand metric tons of ‘cosmic spherules’ . . .” Vernon, Beneath Our Feet, p. 191.
“Well, they were very charming . . .” Frank Asaro, telephone interview by author, March 10, 2002.
“an article in Popular Astronomy magazine . . .” Powell, Mysteries of Terra Firma, p. 184.
“the dinosaurs may have been dealt a death blow . . .” Peebles, Asteroids: A History, p. 170.
“an earlier event known as the Frasnian extinction.” Lewis, Rain of Iron and Ice, p. 107.
“They’re more like stamp collectors . . .” Quoted by Officer and Page, Tales of the Earth, p. 142.
“even while conceding in a newspaper interview . . .” Boston Globe, “Dinosaur Extinction Theory Backed,” December 16, 1985.
“continued to believe that the extinction of the dinosaurs . . .” Peebles, p. 175.
“evaluate Manure Management Plans . . .” Iowa Department of Natural Resources Publication, Iowa Geology 1999: Number 24.
“Suddenly we were at the center of things . . .” Ray Anderson and Brian Witzke, interview by author, Iowa City, June 15, 2001.
“One of those moments came . . .” Boston Globe, “Dinosaur Extinction Theory Backed,” December 16, 1985.
“The formation had been found by Pemex . . .” Peebles, pp. 177-78; and Washington Post, “Incoming,” April 19, 1998.
“I remember harboring some strong initial doubts . . .” Gould, Dinosaur in a Haystack, p. 162.
“Jupiter will swallow these comets up . . .” Quoted by Peebles, p. 196.
“One fragment, known as Nucleus G . . .” Peebles, p. 202.
“Shoemaker was killed instantly . . .” Peebles, p. 204.
“nearly every standing thing would be flattened . . .” Anderson, Iowa Department of Natural Resources: Iowa Geology 1999, “Iowa’s Mansion Impact Structure.”
“fleeing would mean ‘selecting a slow death over a quick one . . .’ ” Lewis, Rain of Iron and Ice, p. 209.
“concluded that it affected Earth’s climate for about ten thousand years . . .” Arizona Republic, “Impact Theory Gains New Supporters,” March 3, 2001.
“our missiles are not designed for space work . . .” Lewis, Rain of Iron and Ice, p. 215.
“even a year’s warning would probably be insufficient . . .” New York Times magazine, “The Asteroids Are Coming! The Asteroids Are Coming!” July 28, 1996, pp. 17-19.
“Shoemaker-Levy 9 had been orbiting Jupiter . . .” Ferris, Seeing in the Dark, p. 168.
