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Near-Earth Asteroid 2004 MN4 Reaches Highest Score To Date On Hazard Scale
NASA JPL ^ | December 24, 2004 | Don Yoemans

Posted on 12/24/2004 8:13:41 PM PST by Fitzcarraldo

Near-Earth Asteroid 2004 MN4 Don Yeomans, Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office December 24, 2004

2004 MN4 is now being tracked very carefully by many astronmers around the world, and we continue to update our risk analysis (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk) for this object. Today's impact monitoring results indicate that the impact probability for April 13, 2029 has risen to about 1.6%, which for an object of this size corresponds to a rating of 4 on the ten-point Torino Scale.

Nevertheless, the odds against impact are still high, about 60 to 1, meaning that there is a better than 98% chance that new data in the coming days, weeks, and months will rule out any possibility of impact in 2029.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asteroid; asteroid2004mn4; impact
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To: Fitzcarraldo

Guess I'll have to break out my surfboard.


21 posted on 12/24/2004 9:39:24 PM PST by GSWarrior
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To: Fitzcarraldo

That brings a new meaning to a "environmental impact" report...


22 posted on 12/24/2004 10:20:34 PM PST by DB (©)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

Damn. In the other thread, the odds were 300-1 against, just yesterday.


23 posted on 12/24/2004 10:24:09 PM PST by txhurl
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To: Fitzcarraldo

This asteroid could be the solution to the looming problem with Social Security.


24 posted on 12/24/2004 10:33:34 PM PST by OwenKellogg
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To: Robert Teesdale

Could the french surrender to it?


25 posted on 12/24/2004 11:56:54 PM PST by BloodScarletMinnesota (MPLS STAR-TRIBUNE:America's Most Ridiculed Newspaper)
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To: GSlob

Could they to be surreptitiously diverted just a bit to impact on the hostile states?




If it is possible to divert this object from a collision path with Earth, it is also possible to change its direction just enough to put it on a collision course with any point on earth.

If the object is large enough, however, the impact would destroy "life as we know it" on the entire planet, and if so, it is less likely that a cooperative effort to divert it completely would be sabotaged to produce an impact on the chief adversary of the saboteur.

It will be interesting to see how this logic plays out in the event that the object is indeed on a collision course.


26 posted on 12/25/2004 4:11:10 AM PST by Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek
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To: CurlyDave
With 25 years to go we could easily develop the technology to divert the threat, and the benefits would be as great as the moon program.

Nope. In 25 years, China or India can develop this technology.

There in the USA.

Merry Christmas!

27 posted on 12/25/2004 4:44:24 AM PST by EEDUDE (Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.)
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To: CurlyDave
With 25 years to go we could easily develop the technology to divert the threat, and the benefits would be as great as the moon program.

Nope. In 25 years, China or India can develop this technology.

There won't be any engineers in the USA.

Merry Christmas!

28 posted on 12/25/2004 4:46:11 AM PST by EEDUDE (Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.)
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To: EEDUDE

In 25 years, while Congress still debates on how best to deal with the threat, Bert Rutan launches a rocket propelled by common household chemicals and intercepts the asteroid.

The rocket forces the asteroid into a stable permanent earth orbit and Rutan starts a new space tourist attraction called "The Rock".

He does this all at cost of less $15 million.

Merry Christmas!


29 posted on 12/25/2004 5:34:13 AM PST by Jed Eckert
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To: Robert Teesdale
Mecca, anyone?

Do you think that if this was the case, that the US gov't would not even issue an alert so as to keep all the scumbags in one place???

30 posted on 12/25/2004 6:02:27 AM PST by Living Free in NH (Where am I and why am I in this handbasket?)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

When I was a tot, about 1960, I remember reading about a comet and asking my mom to wake me up when Halley's comet comes back.

She just laughed and said "OK!"

Precious moments.

God Bless my dear, sweet mother, who looks at comets from above now.


31 posted on 12/25/2004 6:13:22 AM PST by djf
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To: Bogey78O
We can only hope.

Well no, right now only one and one-half countries (Rooska being the half) have the industrial base to seriously have any chance of deflecting its trajectory.

Modifying its trajectory for a rendezvous with Mecca is a most interesting astrodynamics problem. "I got yer Hajar al-Aswad right here."

32 posted on 12/25/2004 6:16:20 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS", Fake But Accurate, Experts Say)
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To: Living Free in NH
Do you think that if this was the case, that the US gov't would not even issue an alert so as to keep all the scumbags in one place???

Are you kidding? If they knew the al-Hajar al-Aswad was returning, they'd assemble mobs covering hundreds of acres to "greet" it.

33 posted on 12/25/2004 6:20:50 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS", Fake But Accurate, Experts Say)
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To: OwenKellogg

lol, that was worth a chuckle.


34 posted on 12/25/2004 6:41:40 AM PST by ßuddaßudd (7 days - 7 ways (but you must follow the instructions carefully))
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To: StockAyatollah

Seriously, there was another thread on us sending an 800 ton hammer to split a comet into pieces ,so we could analyse it's contents.

I noticed someone mentioned that we need to be concerned and make efforts to prepare for a potential meteor(ite) crash.


I think many haven't noticed that we are well into this curve.
NEAR stations have been funded,built and are being used, all over the planet.

Our government, as well an others around the world, have built underground facilities to move a secondary government to in case of this event, or others.


I think that the possibility of a meteor getting close enough to Earth and all or part of it entering the atmosphere and inhabited regions incurring significant damage is being taken very seriously , but being very quietly handled.

The comet in question is being mentioned because it is one we are tracking. Those can be mentioned. What is not usually mentioned are the ones we do not have a track on. We had one of those come by very near to Earth, and it was a total surprise.

Matter of fact, the guys that perform the real task that you saw in ARMEGEDDON (notifying the President of an EARTH STRIKE), were just about to call the President. They couldn't get accurate coordinates on the comet due to weather. Thankfully, the weather cleared enough and a determination was made that it would miss us by a million or two miles. POINT : It was this | | close to the President being notified, and was totally unexpected.

One could say LIFE imitates ART. How closely is the scary part.


35 posted on 12/25/2004 1:09:14 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (>The government of our country was meant to be a servant of the people, not a master.)
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To: Fitzcarraldo
Friday, April 13, 2029. Doesn't that fall within the the range of historical uncertainty for a certain anniversary? Nothing the ACLU would recognize, but one that might appeal to certain "the end of the world is coming" enthusiasts. Still, before they get too excited let me point out that Easter that year falls on April 1st (in the west) and April 8th (in the east.) On the other hand, the Easter dating schemes were brought to us by the same good people that put Christmas in December...
36 posted on 12/25/2004 1:28:19 PM PST by JohnBovenmyer (I)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

The Earth orbit's roughly 96,000,000 miles from the sun.

That makes the orbit about 603,000,000 miles around.

Which means that we travel 1,652,000 miles per day in our orbit, 69,000 miles per hour, or 1,150 miles per minute.

The Earth is about 4,000 miles across, so being off by less than 2 minutes in their calculations means the difference between a direct hit and a miss. That's two minutes over 25 years, or 0.008734%.

This from the folks that forgot to change between metric and English units when calculating the orbital path for the Mars mission a couple of years ago. I'm beginning to look for other options.


37 posted on 12/25/2004 1:34:54 PM PST by Phsstpok (Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform - Mark Twain)
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To: Phsstpok
This from the folks that forgot to change between metric and English units

No kidding.

38 posted on 12/25/2004 1:45:50 PM PST by txhurl
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To: Fitzcarraldo

Hey this can be fun. All we have to do is sit back and watch the Godless DUmmies panic about a rock headed their way.

They don't know God controls it and if it hits us we have a place reserved for us.

Atheism isn't always fun now is it?

JH


39 posted on 12/25/2004 2:28:46 PM PST by politicalmerc (To get Rejected Stickers http://www.tdowc.com/store/catalog)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

oh boy.....it is a 4. Run for the hills.


40 posted on 12/25/2004 2:32:48 PM PST by rwfromkansas ("War is an ugly thing, but...the decayed feeling...which thinks nothing worth war, is worse." -Mill)
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