Posted on 07/28/2010 12:18:12 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
A massive asteroid might crash into Earth in the year 2182, scientists have warned.
The asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, has a 1-in-1,000 chance of actually hitting the Earth at some point before the year 2200, but is most likely to hit us on 24th September 2182.
It was first discovered in 1999 and is more than 1,800 feet across. If an asteroid of this size hit the Earth it would cause widespread devastation and possible mass extinction.
And scientists say that any attempt to try and divert the asteroid will have to take place more than 100 years before it is due to hit to have any chance of success.
If the asteroid had not been spotted until after 2080 it would be impossible to divert it from its target, they warned in a new research paper.
While the odds may seem long, they are far shorter than that of the asteroid Apophis, which currently has a 1 in 250,000 chance of striking Earth in 2036.
A competition was launched in 2008 by the Planetary Society for designs for a space probe to land on Apophis and monitor its progress.
Maria Eugenia Sansaturio and scientists from the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain have used mathematical models to calculate the risk of the asteroid hitting the Earth anytime between now and the year 2200.
And they were shocked to discover that there are two potential opportunities for the asteroid to hit Earth in the year 2182.
‘The total impact probability of asteroid '(101955) 1999 RQ36' can be estimated in 0.00092 –approximately one-in-a-thousand chance-, but what is most surprising is that over half of this chance (0.00054) corresponds to 2182,’ Sansaturio said.
The asteroid is now behind the Sun and will next be observable only in the spring of 2011.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I’m sure we’ll send up the battery-powered rockets to move it out of the way.
Thank you for the laugh on an otherwise depressing day!
You're right. It won't.
Depending on where it hit, it might destroy an impressive % of human civilization though.
BUT almost every scenario where a rock manages to smash civilization also predicts San Francisco falling into the sea, so - you know - trade-offs.
LOL
Fascinating! Since they are trying now- more than 100 years PRE collision- to find a way to divert it that would make the failure to save the planet OBAMA’S FAULT!
Finally! Something will be Hussein’s fault!
They have no credibility with me anymore.
Do you have any idea of the energy that would be generated by an object that size traveling at MACH-5 or so? If it hits anywhere on the American Continent, you might finally cash in on that Kansas beach-front property!
Bush’s fault! BP’s fault!
Somehow, I don’t think anyone will be here to see it (if it happens, that is).
That’s why the election of 2178 is going to be so pivotal.
A land hit would also raise a dust cloud that would severely impact agriculture for some years - which would be bad.
But if it hit Mecca, it would be hysterically funny. Parse that, Ahmadinehad!
I read the title as Massive Steroid To Hit Earth. It took me a minute to get my head on straight. LOL!
I don't think you appreciate the amount of kinetic energy that it possesses. An asteriod that size would impart somewhere from 20,000 -40,000 Megatons of energy. It would create a crater tens of miles across and spread debris for thousands of miles. The dust lofted into the atmosphere would darken the sun for months if not years.
Barringer Crater in Arizona (about a mile across) was believed to have been created by an object about ten feet across.
Can we aim it at Mecca?
I’m sure Hannity’s descendants will call it the most important election in our history...
The dims in Congress in 2174 will pass a law that it can’t happen!
Don't watch much Discovery or History Channel, do you?
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