[aculeus]

Sleep well.

[xcamel]

KillerPotato!

[VadeRetro]

So, should I eat broccoli or not?

[Revolting cat!]

Finally, a real chance for Skeeter to make a comeback!

[Junior]

I'll be 71. Like I'll give a flying fig leaf.

[miliantnutcase]

390m is not exactly a world killer. It would probably wreak considerable havoc similar to a very very large volcano. Possibly causing colder climate for maybe a few years but nothing that would kill off civilization.

[KC Burke]

My goodness, I hope there is time to get that snappy dresser, Mr. Brown, back at FEMA.

Seriously, this is a hyped article.

The current Torino Scale rating and classification on Palermo risk places this in the category defined by NAEO as:

A routine discovery in which a pass near the Earth is predicted that poses no unusual level of danger. Current calculations show the chance of collision is extremely unlikely with no cause for public attention or public concern. New telescopic observations very likely will lead to re-assignment to Level 0.

or as NEO explains when giving the probability of any impact0.018000000% chance of Earth impact

or

1 in 5,560 chance

or

99.98200000% chance the asteroid will miss the Earth

[birbear]

Nobody has a pool up and running yet on latitude and longitude?

I'll take: 48° 49' N 2° 29' E

[Dr. Luv]

Get out the tinfoil hats....

[Graymatter]

31 years, eh? According to my doctors I don't have 31 months. It figures I would miss the astronomical event of the century. Got to be a way around this...

[kcar]

So why rebuild New Orleans? Maybe Dr. Strangelove has a better idea.

[Mannaggia l'America]

I just happen to be reading....

[Petronski]

By then I'll be 69. Hmmm.


OTOH, my boys will be in their late 20s.





Yeah, I guess I'll panic if it hasn't been resolved or clarified by 2025.

[D.P.Roberts]

Let's see, it's roughly the size of the Superdome. Maybe we could fill it with New Orleans welfare junkies and they could wreck it in a weekend.

[Brilliant]

In that case, don't worry too much about social security.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Get the 911 Commission on it. Gore-licker, Ben-Vensite and Co. They seem to have all the right answers. Yea man, do that.

[RayChuang88]

We have thirty-one years before impact. That's way more than enough time to drop a lander with an ion rocket on it, land it on the asteroid, and fire the ion rocket for about a month to "nudge" the asteroid into a safe orbit. Or if technology is advanced enough by then, use a powerful enough rocket to slow down the asteroid to park it in the L1 gravitational zone between the Earth and Moon and start mining it out afterwards.

[gathersnomoss]

I have to change my Depends. Thanks.

[Revolting cat!]

Let's get serious, down on our knees and pray for women and minories who'll be hardest hit (it goes without saying.)

[manwiththehands]

We'll put NASA right on it ... maybe by then they will have figured out how to keep the foam from coming off the shuttle's fuel tank.

[HighWheeler]

"99942 Apophis (previously better known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4) is a Near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a relatively large probability that it would strike the Earth in 2029. However, additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029. A future impact on April 13, 2036, is still possible, keeping the asteroid at level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale as of September 2005, with an estimated impact-probability of 1 in 5,560."

-- -- --

To get that odd probability, 1 in 5560, a Monte Carlo probability model is created and calculated. It's a brilliant way to obtain a good probability with many highly complex factors involved in the calculation.