It's called Apophis. It's 390m wide. And it could hit Earth in 31 years time [Asteroid]

The Guardian (UK) ^ | December 7, 2005 | by Alok Jha

[aculeus]

In Egyptian myth, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness.

A fitting name, astronomers reasoned, for a menace now hurtling towards Earth from outerspace. Scientists are monitoring the progress of a 390-metre wide asteroid discovered last year that is potentially on a collision course with the planet, and are imploring governments to decide on a strategy for dealing with it.

[Bender2]

Re: "I'll be 86. I think I'll sit on the front stoop and watch it come in."

I hope I'll be 89 by then...

[razorbak]

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures in the sea, those having souls, died; and the third part of the ships was destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and a great star burning like a lamp fell from the heaven, and it fell on the third part of the rivers and on the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood, and a third part of the waters became wormwood. And many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
(Revelation 8:8-11)

[mewzilla]

Carter, Tilk and O'Niell will handle it.

Ahem. You forgot someone.

:)

[Pusterfuss]

Possibly causing colder climate for maybe a few years but nothing that would kill off civilization.

Oh, if only we had signed Kyoto!!!

[NonValueAdded]

We have thirty-one years before impact. That's way more than enough time to drop a lander with an ion rocket on it... for TROP to build some nukes and Apophis will bounce the rubble.

[RayChuang88]

It's actually NOT a good idea to nuke an asteroid--all that might do is reduce it to smaller pieces coming in the same direction and instead of a single impact, we'll get a "shotgun impact" that could be just as deadly.

[Frank_Discussion]

False God!

[orionblamblam]

Depends on how you nuke it. Subsurface blast... bad. Standoff blast with focussed momentum via Orion-style pulse units... good. Standoff blast using neutron bomb to cause facing surface of asteroid to ablate away... good.

In short: Hollywood sucks.

[Romish_Papist]

I think the UN plans to issue a "strongly worded, non-binding" resolution to the asteroid. [/sarcasm]

[dangus]

I had a brain fart and couldn't think of his last name, in spite of having seen most every episode. (I didn't use to watch, but caught up on reruns during... I watch the show while making dinner, etc.)

That's pretty bad, since Tilc (and gee, I also had misspelled his name I see) always calls him, "Daniel Jackson."

[Romish_Papist]

Awesome reference, but nothing touches the masterpiece that is "Rust In Peace."

[Romish_Papist]

Wish I worked for you lol. People here can't seem to appreciate Megadeth or Hatebreed etc. first thing in the morning. Go figure. :)

[ArrogantBustard]

It can't be Apophis:

SG1 killed him.

[KC Burke]

I have also herd talk of chaulking an asteroid -- basically covering it or it's sunward side with white dust. The difference in how that reflectivity interacts with solar wind can make a continuous push over a period of years and alter the orbit in a precalculated manner.

[from occupied ga]

"The sky is falling"*

*Chicken Little

[auggy]

"I'm eligible for social security that year. Will I still get it?"

Yea, you will get it alright, but not for very long. lol lol

[New Perspective]

The timing of this is suspicious.

[dirtboy]

Good grief! Right on time for the doomsday 2036 predictions I've seen around the web.

Hey, look at the bright side. Now we don't have to worry about fixing Social Security and Medicare.

[AmusedBystander]

It will burn up in entry to about the size of a Chihuahua's head and hit Springfield. But there will be no one to witness it as all of mankind will be wiped out by the bird flu in 2008.

[miliantnutcase]

rofl. nice one.