Yesterday's Asteroid Alert app mystery solved

This post got a ton of attention yesterday (currently around 50 flags) and really caught my interest:

It's been a long time. What's with these asteroids?

For those who missed it, this is what it looked like, a mass of NEOs concentrating around Earth

First, let me say- what you see happening is actually happening.

I cross-referenced the data of of over a dozen of the object positions in-app and yes, the data matches NASA JPL very closely.
In fact, most of these NEOs are CLOSER than depicted in the app:


So what's happening here?

Well, the app obviously doesn't show all objects in the solar system, but it also doesn't show NEO threats for the selected date.

It instead shows where NEOs of CURRENT DATE importance are, where they were at that point, sourced by data straight from Nasa JPL.

This explains why the condensation never happens before or after, and it also means...

If you were to open the app next month, in 2 years or in 20 years, it would always show that collecting occurring closer to current date, correlating with whatever NEOs and data NASA had at the time.

Mystery solved! Perhaps not as satisfying as a massive alien invasion yet...
Now you know you can pull out the app anytime you want and freak out your unsuspecting paranoid friends!

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a reply to: ADAMandEVIL

Phew... I was already holding my breath...

I knew I could count on ATS

Great bit of detective work!

a reply to: ADAMandEVIL

Awesome find! Thank you so much for your work. This was a fun mystery to have solved.

a reply to: ADAMandEVIL

Thanks so much. You 'hit the nail on the head'

I think it is kind of cool that someone followed through with an investigation to get to the actual reason something happened. Good job figuring this out OP.

a reply to: rickymouse

That's what ATS has always been about for me. Before the days of above top mudpit lol