Looks like a serious or even catastrophic impact really is WHEN, rather than if. via RT: A mesmerising - and alarming - new animation from NASA demonstrates just how dramatic the increase in near-Earth asteroids entering our Solar System has become over the last 20 years. The video, based on data gathered by the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, shows the huge surge of space rocks hurtling towards the inner Solar System. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets in orbits that come within 121 million miles (195 million km) of the sun, and also within roughly 30 million miles of Earth's orbit around our star. Data from January 1, 1999 to the end of January 2018 shows the spectacular increase in asteroid discoveries in the Solar System. The color blue represents near-Earth asteroids, while orange indicates main-belt asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The footage starts with just faint speckles surrounding the Solar System in 1999 before growing more distinct