NASA Refines Threat Posed by Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Bennu The 1,640-foot-wide object could collide with Earth in 161 years, but the odds remain exceptionally low.

Gizmodo ^ | 8-11-21 | George Dvorsky

[dynachrome]

Data gathered during the years NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spent zipping around asteroid Bennu has allowed scientists to update the risk posed by this potentially hazardous near-Earth object.

The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx is currently en route to Earth, carrying surface samples it collected from asteroid Bennu. From December 2018 to May 2021, the NASA spacecraft studied the gigantic rubble pile from every angle, measuring its size, shape, mass, composition, spin, orbital trajectory, and other important characteristics. Bennu is a primitive carbonaceous asteroid, so by studying this object, scientists can make inferences about what our solar system was like during its formative period.

But there’s more to this $800 million mission than just looking for organic molecules or signs of water and heavy elements. Bennu is currently ranked second on the list of potentially dangerous asteroids, highlighting the importance of learning as much as we can about it—especially the orbital dynamics that dictate its future movements.

The new research, published in Icarus, does exactly this, providing a refined trajectory of Bennu through to the year 2300. The misanthropes among you may be pleased to learn that Bennu still has a very slight chance of hitting our planet next century. The odds of a collision through the year 2300 remain very low, however: They’re now pegged to be about 1 in 1,750, or 0.057%.

[dynachrome]

I'll worry about it in 150 years or so.

[Paladin2]

Put me firmly in the category of:

I don’t care, whatsoever.

[NWFree]

So there’s no reason to worry about all that climate change nonsense.

[fidelis]

I, for one, plan on being out of town that day.

[DoodleBob]

Here's some perspective. Bennu is 490m in diameter and has a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting the Earth, so it's a 1 or 2:

If it his the Earth, it'll cause regional devastation. If the leftists haven't turned us all into Solyent Green by then.

[plain talk]

in that time frame we should be able to nudge any problematic asteroids out of the way as needed. That is ... if our government has any resources left to work on such matters.

[BenLurkin]

Can we get it to hurry up?

Maybe hit tomorrow?

[ThunderSleeps]

Not to worry, according to the left we only have something like 10 years left anyway. I think we’ve passed the “tipping point” at least a dozen times now, so I’m sure we’re doomed long before the asteroid gets its shot at us.

[JeanLM]

Read “Lucifer’s Hammer”.

[Paladin2]

So get Elon to blast it off into Space.

Totally NOT a problem.

Marxists in America are the problem...

[Revel]

160 years? That is way too late to save us.

[Sequoyah101]

I don’t have anything scheduled for that day. I don’t believe it will be a problem for me or any my next generations, if I had any.

It is like the fools in the state house wanting bounties on big foot and moratoriums on abortions while the state is falling apart with the scrotus indian ruling. I asked our little rep: “Don’t you dopes have anything more important to work on?”

[Paul R.]

Yup. Contract with Elon to cast a large net around Bennu (if indeed it is a loose pile of rubble). Apply low thrust for a couple years. Problem gone.

As part of the contract, Elon can have any materials found on / in the asteroid.

[ThunderSleeps]

Read “Lucifer’s Hammer”.

I have. I used to be big into science fiction and fiction. I've read "Footfall," "Rendezvous with Rama," "Starship Troopers," "The Songs of a Distant Earth," "The Prometheus Crisis," "The Ten Thousand," (Harold Coyle) "Team Yankee," "Cauldron," all of Tom Clancy's stuff up through "Executive Orders" and "Rainbow Six" but not much after that. As a young boy I read the trilogy "The White Mountains" "The City of Gold and Lead" and "The Pool of Fire." Left an impression on me that I can remember them these many decades later.

[telescope115]

I won’t hold my breath

[wjcsux]

I’ve lived through at least a dozen doomsday scenarios myself.

[wjcsux]

We all should have been dead 20+ years ago.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

#13. Nah. Just nuke it from orbit just to be sure. H bombs should do the job to either destroy it or break it up and force the pieces away from earth.

Otherwise, call Superman, if he’s not wearing a dress.

[PIF]

Bennu is a primitive carbonaceous asteroid

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That’s the line to pay attention to: it means that, unlike a lot of asteroids, it is dark/black in color. Little light is reflected. In fact, the so-called Dino Killer is also believed to have been of the same type.

Spotting any asteroid is difficult, but spotting one from the outer rim of the asteroid belt that is cinder black is nearly impossible. Worse, if such an object comes from sun-ward, giving little or no warning of its existence or approach.

Its the one’s you can’t see that are the most potentially dangerous.