Asteroid may hit Mars in next monthFri Dec 21, 5:34 PM ET
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LOS ANGELES - Mars could be in for an asteroid hit. A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.
"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.
Scientists tracking the asteroid, currently halfway between Earth and Mars, initially put the odds of impact at 1 in 350 but increased the chances this week. Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations of the asteroid's orbit, Chesley said.
"We know that it's going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there's a possibility of an impact," he said.
If the asteroid does smash into Mars, it will probably hit near the equator close to where the rover Opportunity has been exploring the Martian plains since 2004. The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone. Speeding at 8 miles a second, a collision would carve a hole the size of the famed Meteor Crater in Arizona.
In 1994, fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smacked into Jupiter, creating a series of overlapping fireballs in space. Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.
"Unlike an Earth impact, we're not afraid, but we're excited," Chesley said.
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On the Net:
Near Earth Object Program: [link]
Meteor Crater in Arizona: [link]
Images Of Meteor Crater: [link]
Devious Comments
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( O.o)
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Le coeur à des raisons que la raison ne connait pas.
As mentioned in the article "object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.". The explosion was at an altitude roughly six kilometers in the atmosphere, some people died (don't know the real number), though. Luckily, it didn't hit a populated area (at that time).
Thanks for your comment
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Some may think I'm obsessed with my cat. What's wrong with dat?! I love her, u don have to! U don have 2 be obsessed with anything, dat's ur business! Just don think u've got da right 2 force people 2 think the way u do!
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( O.o)
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Le coeur à des raisons que la raison ne connait pas.
The Siberian one makes for fascinating reading. With the world being more populated, and large urban conurbations being spread fairly well, another similar one could well kill millions
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As we all know, many geologists and paleontologists now believe that the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago was caused by the impact of a huge asteroid (6 to 12 miles wide) along with at least 50% of all species then living on Earth. Ofcourse the heat and dust helped with the extinction of billions of creatures too.
I searched the internet for the above information, and I also found that the Yucatan region of Mexico was the palce where the impact that killed dinosaurs (known as the K-T event "Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction event") happened.
For more information, please visit:
NASA [link]
Astrobiology Magazine [link]
Chicxulub Crater (Yucatan Peninsula, MExico) [link]
Yeah, poor little green creatures
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Some may think I'm obsessed with my cat. What's wrong with dat?! I love her, u don have to! U don have 2 be obsessed with anything, dat's ur business! Just don think u've got da right 2 force people 2 think the way u do!
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A first step to the solution is NASA's Near-Earth Object Survey Program (NEO)..
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- The goal of the Survey Program should be modified to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize, by the end of 2020, 90 percent of all Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs) greater than 140 meters whose orbits pass within 0.05 AU of the Earth's orbit (as opposed to surveying for all NEOs).
- The study team assessed a series of approaches that could be used to divert a NEO potentially on a collision course with Earth. Nuclear explosives, as well as non-nuclear options, were assessed.
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To read more about the survey, here's the link of NASA's report to the Congress. You can also find a PDF copy of the final report of the survey and a copy of NASA's NEO study.
[link]
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Some may think I'm obsessed with my cat. What's wrong with dat?! I love her, u don have to! U don have 2 be obsessed with anything, dat's ur business! Just don think u've got da right 2 force people 2 think the way u do!
--
Some may think I'm obsessed with my cat. What's wrong with dat?! I love her, u don have to! U don have 2 be obsessed with anything, dat's ur business! Just don think u've got da right 2 force people 2 think the way u do!
Notice of impending strike
Panic!
Strike
Panic!
Society breaks down in affected areas, riots, looting, large numbers of deaths from simple things like polluted water, lack of food.
Poor farmer in some place back of beyond wonders what the hells up with his radio and why he can't get world service any more, and carries on farming and feeding his family, no better or worse off that before, except for the lovely bright sunsets.
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