[WSGilcrest]

Ok, I clicked the "other earth asteroid" link and it said:

In the year 2004, on September 29, the Earth will pass very near Toutatis, closing to within a million miles (4 times the Earth-Moon distance) - the closest approach predicted for any asteroid or comet between now and 2060.

Today's pic says:

Approaching to within about 530,000 kilometers or 1.3 times the Earth-Moon distance 2002 NY40 will definitely not be close enough to pose any danger of collision.

You think it's a misprint, or is this not that exact of a science yet?

[sleavelessinseattle]

FUD selling...Fear Uncertainty and Doubt...But frankly I'm for a true Asteroid/Comet defense system. These things can have orbits out past PLUTO! no way can all that stuff be spotted optically! Albedo too faint...It is remarkable how far off even meteor shower peak predictions are though...one such error was over 6 hours off! Peak happened in Daylight on our hemisphere Fa cryin out loud!!! Here's a description of some software that models the probability of a big strike over time... Click HERE

A comet only has to get lucky ONCE...Some place else described the race to get an effective defence against spaceborne debris as an IQ test we are not prepared to pass any time soon....BR SS!