It's not as bad as it looks, NASA says.
New images depict man-made objects bigger than 4 inches (10 cm) orbiting Earth, and there are a bunch of them -- some 19,000 by the latest count.
NASA released the illustrated representations of space junk today based on the latest data and analysis from the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and the space agency's Orbital Debris Program Office.
As with previous depictions, it looks like a mess. But in a statement, NASA said the situation is not as dire as it may appear, even though each year brings more flotsam into the mix.
"The dots are not to scale, and space is a very big place," the statement reads. "Collisions between large objects are fairly rare. The orbit of each piece is well known. If any debris comes into the path of an operating NASA satellite, flight controllers will maneuver the satellite out of harm's way." More here: http://www.space.com/news/090912-space-junk-images.html
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