Near-Earth asteroids discovered per year

Between 2005 and 2023, astronomers looked up and saw steadily more asteroids drifting uncomfortably close to Earth, and Americans looked down at their retrievers and spent steadily more on them, and the two curves have climbed with a synchronicity (r = 0.959) that suggests the universe is trying to put things in context. Meteors above; kibble below; both are increasing. The space between them is, by comparison, stable.

Near-Earth asteroid discoveries grew from about 750 per year in 2005 to over 3,000 per year by 2023, powered by new survey telescopes like Pan-STARRS and the now-operational Vera C. Rubin Observatory; US pet industry spending, meanwhile, climbed from $37 billion to $147 billion in the same window, with veterinary services passing $35 billion and 'pet parenting' becoming a line item in household budgets. Both are consequences of getting much better at counting things that were always there — the asteroids were always passing, the dogs were always hungry — and of a civilization that can, at long last, afford to pay attention to both.

The telescope catalogs a threat. The dog nudges a bowl. Neither knows about the other. The owner provides for both.