City-sized asteroid to pass Earth this fall

space.com ^ | posted: 06:30 am ET 03 May 2004 | Robert Roy Britt

[ckilmer]

a simple way to get the graphics and html code to work is to copy and paste the original article into yahoo.com email and then click on the show html option at the bottom of the yahoo email box. then copy and paste that html into the fr page.

[John H K]

A minor rumor has hatched on the Internet that a large and deadly asteroid will strike Earth this fall. Bulletin board discussions cite a 63 percent chance of impact, while concerned readers have e-mailed SPACE.com wondering if it is true.

There seems to be a a small cottage industry (largely comprised of religious apocalyptic types) that transforms interesting astronomy news into impending doom with a healthy serving of idiocy.

[scan59]

EEEK!

[RightWhale]

They know it's going to miss. They have been tracking it for a long time. If it were going to hit they would know that, too, but they couldn't do anything at all about it. To that extent, the meteor watch is totally useless.

[Lokibob]

You can do the same thing in Outlook Express.

[blam]

Ping.

[Grig]

There sure have been a lot of NEA's (Near Earth Asteroids) recently. Sooner or later one will hit.

[Kate of Spice Island]

Bump

[DoughtyOne]

  Looks like the curse of the peanut farmer (Jimma) coming back to haunt us.

[antaresequity]

To that extent, the meteor watch is totally useless

As worthless as watching a train wreck...which is to say even if it was going to hit...who wouldn't look up?

[RightWhale]

It's not one object, but two held together by gravity, what little gravity there is. A small jolt would send the pieces on their separate ways.

[bitt]

The September Surprise. Kerry's team better get on this....

[walford]

All the more reason to develop/deploy space-based detection and defense.

[CathyRyan]

Hey, I thought May is when the SWHTF??

[Leroy S. Mort]

Asteroid Toutatis, officially numbered 4179, was discovered by French astronomers in 1989.

I won't believe there's a problem til Hans Blix tells me it's so.

[martin_fierro]

Just checked out the Toutatis animation this fall using Celestia.

It's free! Check it out.

[KarlInOhio]

Newsflash: 73.5 quintillion ton rock expected to come within 250,000 miles of earth tonight. NASA makes no announcement of it.

[JohnBovenmyer]

If it were going to hit they would know that, too, but they couldn't do anything at all about it.

There are lots of things that might work to nudge away an incoming asteroid, especially if you can get decent advance warning. Once we finally get the cost of reaching orbit down we really should try to alter the orbit of some asteroids whose orbits stay safely sun-ward to us. Assuming the human race plans to stick around for a long time (which eventually requires cheaper trips to orbit) some day we'll need to redirect an incoming rock. I'd rather we didn't have to get it right the first time. Fortunately God has provided some rocks in safe orbits for practice.

[FierceDraka]

September 29th - Hot Fudge Wednesday.

Better load up on food, seeds, ammunition, and some serious camping gear, and head for high ground before then!