[Geritol]

"On average, objects about the size of 2004 FH pass within this distance roughly once every two years"

Wow. 3 and a hair planetary diameters out. Every 2 years. At that rate I would expect one to hit us every 115 years or so.

[RonHolzwarth]

re: "At that rate I would expect one to hit us every 115 years or so."

They do.

[StriperSniper]

Tunguska redux?

Hope they don't have their 'meters' and 'feet' mixed up. (:-/

Get your crash helmets on!

[js1138]

Wow. 3 and a hair planetary diameters out. Every 2 years. At that rate I would expect one to hit us every 115 years or so.

Try 1908, Siberia.

Consider that two-thirds of the surface is ocean, which would mean the only evidence of such a hitg would be tidal waves. We might have no knowledge of the Siberian hit except for a few curious scientists. It wasn't even suspected of being a meteorite or comet until the 1950s.

[cogitator]

At that rate I would expect one to hit us every 115 years or so.

The Tunguska event provided last century's hit. We're due for another on that scale. And there have been theories, which I consider somewhat outlandish, that the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire that occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire was caused by a meteorite event. That wouldn't constitute a major hit, but if true, that would be a hit for that century.

New Evidence (for comet/asteroid theory of fire triggering)

Finally, Earth is 70% ocean. Asteroid impacts hitting the ocean or Antarctica on the scale of a Tunguska may not have been recorded, or if related phenomena were observed and reported they may not be distinguishable from a large volcanic eruption.