Posted on 12/28/2007 4:20:49 PM PST by NormsRevenge
The chance of a football field-sized asteroid plowing into Mars next month has been increased to 4 percent, scientists said Friday after analyzing archival data.
Though still a long shot, some researchers are hoping for a cosmic smash.
"I think it'll be cool," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Usually when an asteroid is headed toward Earth, I'm not rooting for an impact."
The space rock, known as the nondescript 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. Based on the latest information available, scientists said last week there was a 1-in-75 chance the asteroid could hit Mars on Jan. 30.
The odds were increased to 1-in-25 this week after a Ph.D. student pored through the archives and plotted the asteroid's motions before its official discovery. The new information allowed scientists to improve their calculations of the asteroid's orbit and flight path.
Scientists will continue to monitor the asteroid to better predict the possibility of a Martian impact. Yeomans said he expects the odds to decrease with new observations gathered early next year.
The likelihood of an asteroid hit usually "peaks before plummeting to zero with additional data," he said.
The asteroid poses no threat to Earth and is closing in on the Red Planet at 27,900 mph.
Should a collision occur, it would likely blast a half-mile-wide crater north of where the rover Opportunity has been exploring since 2004.
The impact could release energy similar to the 1908 Tunguska object that exploded over remote central Siberia and wiped out 60 million trees.
Scientists say asteroid may hit Mars in late January (1 in 75 chance on Jan. 30, 2008) ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942591/posts
Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism ^ 12/20/2007 6:27:00 PM PST · 98 replies
ap on Examiner.com ^ | 12/20/07 | Alicia Chang - ap
LOS ANGELES (Map, News) - 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 the Tunguska object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing...
I’ve got my fingers crossed.
what`s the vegas line?
I would imagine that could screw up Mars’ revolution, if not at least its rotation.
So Bush has screwed up everything here on earth now Mars
Are either of those rovers still operating?
I wonder if something like that would be enough to throw debris into orbit and damage satellites orbiting the planet.
A dead center strike would probably not affect the earth, but couldn’t a glancing strike blow materials out of Mars’ gravitational pull, and possibly affect the earth later on?
Seems like it could.
Those two little rovers added to Mars global warming. Maybe the asteroid will help cool the planet.
Both rovers are still operating.
About time we got some payback.
Lucifer’s Hammer. 1 in a million, 1 in 100,000, 1 in 50,00, 1 in 1,000, 1 in 50......................KABOOM!!!!!
It’s Bush’s Fault! Womem and minorities hit hardest! We must kick the Christian ayatollahs out of power in the US, or the Earth will be NEXT!!!
/hey, it makes as much sense as man-made global warming and most of the rest of the libs’ dripe...
BTW, I think this would be WAY cool if it happened.
And to someone who asked, no, there is no real chance that this could hurt us here on Earth — asteroid isn’t big enough for some type of shrapnel or bank-shot effect. Now, if it BARELY misses and skips off of Mars’ atmosphere, it could be deflected toward Earth, but the odds are VERY VERY VERY VERY small. Mars’ atmosphere isn’t really dense enough, and we are a TINY target at that range.
I believe the asteroid is outbound toward mars anyway.
Hahahahaha sure it could. Might knock mars right into us.
Do we need to dispatch George Mitchell again?
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