Asteroid could hit Mars in January

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Analog
Mars could be in for an asteroid hit.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/s...asteroid.ap/index.html

If the asteroid strikes Mars, it will probably hit near the equator close to where the rover Opportunity is exploring.

A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the red planet on January 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 an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.

Scientists tracking the asteroid, currently halfway between Earth and Mars, initially put the odds of impact at 1 in 350 but increased the chances this week. Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations of the asteroid's orbit, Chesley said.

"We know that it's going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there's a possibility of an impact," he said.

If the asteroid does smash into Mars, it will probably hit near the equator close to where the rover Opportunity has been exploring the Martian plains since 2004. The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone. Speeding at 8 miles a second, a collision would carve a hole the size of the famed Meteor Crater in Arizona.

In 1994, fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smacked into Jupiter, creating a series of overlapping fireballs in space. Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.

woah.. a big meteor hit earth in the 20th century???

 

[randay]

id imagine it would be a lot more interesting to get to the impact site and sample rocks, then it would be to just see some smoke.

 

[invidia]

That's number 2 on my list of things I want to happen during my lifetime.

1) Find my first real job
2) Have a huge asteroid hit Earth
3) Have a nuclear holocaust
4) Buy a house
5) Buy a car
6) Get married and have a family

 

[Pocatello]

Although a small chance it will happen, I want to see it. As long as it's not Earth .

 

[Tiamat]

"The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, wiping out 60 million trees."

For some reason, I :laugh:

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
"The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, wiping out 60 million trees."

For some reason, I :laugh:

I think it's because it's the same formatting you would see for the human casualties for a catastrophic event.

It'd be nice to see, I'm sure 2% is astronomical to everyone who is really invested into astronomy.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: JEDI
woah.. a big meteor hit earth in the 20th century???

Hello, and welcome to the news. We get hit every single day, the difference is how big. In the 80's a meteor went though a house and ended up in a ladies teacup, and less than a year later a meteor went though a neighbor's car that lived less than a mile from the teacup lady.

The Siberian 'event' is still open to debate since there was no meteor found. Best guesses put it a few miles up when it exploded based on the tree blow down pattern. Since it happened in the middle of fricking nowhere, and no scientist got there until 10 years after the event, there is not a lot of physical data on it.

 

[SirStev0]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
in other news, grass is green and water is wet.

You're an idiot. Go back to reading your Britney Spears news.

This would be so cool if it hit---the rover would probably be able to see the mushroom cloud

pwnt.

 

[Rubycon]

Wonder what will happen to Life on Mars? :Q

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: invidia
That's number 2 on my list of things I want to happen during my lifetime.

1) Find my first real job
2) Have a huge asteroid hit Earth
3) Have a nuclear holocaust
4) Buy a house
5) Buy a car
6) Get married and have a family

2 & 3 would definitely make housing more affordable.

 

[Wag]

I prefer Mounds myself.

 

[MovingTarget]

Must be payback from some astronomer who had his view of Jupiter obstructed.

That, or Marvin the Martian's payback is finally coming.

But seriously, this is pretty cool. I hope it hits. It could tell us a lot about the composition of the planet.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: XZeroII

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: XZeroII
It's less than a 2% chance so I wouldn't get too worked up about it. However, it would be interesting to see.

And the odds of a rover seeing the cloud is very remote. Remember that the rover is very close to the ground and mars is about the size of Earth so the curvature is very similar.

Mars is much smaller than the earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

check it out its called wikipedia.

check it out its called wikipedia.

Check it out, it's called a comma.

See, two can play the "let's be a smartass game"

I can forgo a comma anytime I like. You are spouting false info and talking out of your ass.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: invidia
That's number 2 on my list of things I want to happen during my lifetime.

1) Find my first real job
2) Have a huge asteroid hit Earth
3) Have a nuclear holocaust
4) Buy a house
5) Buy a car
6) Get married and have a family

2 & 3 would definitely make housing more affordable.

It might cut down on the potential non-mutant dating pool, though.

 

[Demo24]

I would have to laugh if it somehow managed to hit the mars rover :laugh:

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
in other news, grass is green and water is wet.

You're an idiot. Go back to reading your Britney Spears news.

This would be so cool if it hit---the rover would probably be able to see the mushroom cloud

<nasa>oh shit this won't be good to report, let's spin this...what can stop this recording?</nasa>
<tin foil beanie>nothing to see here...move along...</tin foil beanie>

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
holy crap 8 miles a second! thats freaking 28,800mph!

about half what bruce lee punched at....and about 1/4 chuck norris.

F=ma

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: invidia
That's number 2 on my list of things I want to happen during my lifetime.

1) Find my first real job
2) Have a huge asteroid hit Earth
3) Have a nuclear holocaust
4) Buy a house
5) Buy a car
6) Get married and have a family

2 & 3 would definitely make housing more affordable.

It might cut down on the potential non-mutant dating pool, though.

You got something against 3 breasted mutants?

 

[EGGO]

Juuuuust missed us.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
It might cut down on the potential non-mutant dating pool, though.

Mutants need good loving too.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Too bad it couldn't hit some remote place on earth with nothing but forest around so we could really study it.

 

[boomerang]

Dammit, I'm going to have to change our travel plans now. The wife was so much looking forward to Mars. Maybe I can talk her into Venus. My suggestion for Uranus was met with a cold-shoulder so, I'm not bringing that up again.

It's always something.

Edit: Actually, I think this is pretty cool. I hope we get to see it.

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: purbeast0
holy crap 8 miles a second! thats freaking 28,800mph!

about half what bruce lee punched at....and about 1/4 chuck norris.

F=ma

Bruce Lee > Chuck Norris. He probably could have taken Chuck, Claude, and Segal out at the same time.

The Siberian incident is pretty fascinating, google it if you are not familiar with the destruction. Earth will get smacked again in the future, virtually wiping out 99.9% of all life on the planet. There are quite a few out there with the capability. Hopefully they will be able to deflect the body, if not, nice knowing ya...

Asteroid threat demands response, experts warn

Kamchatkans and Venezuelans beware. A 20-million-tonne asteroid could be heading your way. Californians have even more reason to worry - the asteroid is more likely to hit the Pacific Ocean, triggering a tsunami that could devastate the west coast of North America.

These are among the scenarios projected for asteroid Apophis, which researchers now say has a 1 in 45,000 chance of hitting Earth on 13 April 2036. Calculations show it would strike somewhere along a narrow track that stretches eastward from Siberia to the west coast of Africa.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: XZeroII

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: XZeroII
It's less than a 2% chance so I wouldn't get too worked up about it. However, it would be interesting to see.

And the odds of a rover seeing the cloud is very remote. Remember that the rover is very close to the ground and mars is about the size of Earth so the curvature is very similar.

Mars is much smaller than the earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

check it out its called wikipedia.

check it out its called wikipedia.

Check it out, it's called a comma.

See, two can play the "let's be a smartass game"

I can forgo a comma anytime I like. You are spouting false info and talking out of your ass.

My point was that you didn't have to be a smartass about it. There are tactful ways to handle situations like that. But then again this is the internet so I guess that etiquitte goes out the window.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: XZeroII

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: XZeroII
It's less than a 2% chance so I wouldn't get too worked up about it. However, it would be interesting to see.

And the odds of a rover seeing the cloud is very remote. Remember that the rover is very close to the ground and mars is about the size of Earth so the curvature is very similar.

Mars is much smaller than the earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

check it out its called wikipedia.

check it out its called wikipedia.

Check it out, it's called a comma.

See, two can play the "let's be a smartass game"

I would have thought that the Rover would have made it down to the surface by now. Is it still just floating there?

(See, three can play the "let's be a smartass game" as well.)

The rover is not two dimensional...it has height. The camera is very close to the ground (relatively speaking) so the curvature is much more noticable.