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 would imagine that could screw up Mars’ revolution, if not at least its rotation.
Are either of those rovers still operating?
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.
About time we got some payback.
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.
Do we need to dispatch George Mitchell again?
So, how is 1 in 25 equal to 4 percent?
“”Usually when an asteroid is headed toward Earth, I’m not rooting for an impact.””
Yeah, I hear you, Don.
Usually. But there are those times....
What if we make a daring plan and send all the hippies up to Mars to have a Mars Jump Day to jump the planet into the path of the meteor?
It’s not like they’re doing anything else. I’m sure most could be persuaded to go for a few joints and a Phish CD and the rest would be too stoned to even know they were going to Mars. Or they think they’re already on Mars.
Man, that would be so sweet! And science would benefit which seems to be the only justification needed these days for any insane plan.
Here is the orbit simulation if anybody is interested.
"I think it'll be cool," said Don YeomansHeh... thanks NR for the topic and Lonesome in MA for the link here. KD, a possible pingworthy update topic.
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One in twenty five. Getting better. Astronomers and other kinds of scientists could get a lot out of an asteroid strike. Algore might be able to leverage a new cause out of it and might need to since his old carbon scam is starting to fade.
I remember when the Shoemaker-Levy comet pieces hit Jupiter. That was wild!
I hope it happens, as this will be a important event for research into how we can prevent an impact, and what an impact can do.
