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To: NormsRevenge
I wonder if
Intrade has odds up yet?
49 posted on
12/21/2007 7:35:13 AM PST by
Momaw Nadon
("...with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.")
To: NormsRevenge
The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone. This is very odd. It must be on the side away from the trajectory so even if the asteroid hits the debris would not rise up and cover the whole planet but would quickly fall.
50 posted on
12/21/2007 10:02:05 AM PST by
RightWhale
(Dean Koonz is good, but my favorite authors are Dun and Bradstreet)
To: Slip18
51 posted on
12/21/2007 12:58:33 PM PST by
Cyber Liberty
(Don't trust anyone who can’t take a joke. [Congressman BillyBob])
To: NormsRevenge; SunkenCiv
52 posted on
12/21/2007 1:12:46 PM PST by
blam
(Secure the border and enforce the law)
To: NormsRevenge; Cyber Liberty
The scientists at Mt. Palomar in So.Cal. discovered this. I’ve been there. It’s near Dodger Stadium and the LAPD training area.
The information must have been sent to Pasadena, which is not very far away.
It is very interesting.
If you would like to see the largest crater that has hit in the U.S.. read the article I just brought in. It’s about three hours from here. Read a little farther, and you will see the 1 in 75 chance of a meteor hitting Mars on January 30th.
http://www.meteorcrater.com/index.php
Also on the show we watched, the U.S. sent up a permanent satellite around Mars, but the cool catch is that the Japanese had a small Rover the size of a book to set down on an asteroid near Mars.
Awesome!
Thank you for pinging me, Cyber!
53 posted on
12/21/2007 1:16:56 PM PST by
Slip18
(Fred Thompson for POTUS 2008)
To: NormsRevenge
"I'd hit it."
54 posted on
12/21/2007 1:18:15 PM PST by
ItsOurTimeNow
(Classic Blunder #1 - "Never get involved in a land war in Asia.")
To: NormsRevenge
BUSH’S FAULT!!! Failed environmental policies!
am I first :D
55 posted on
12/21/2007 1:19:39 PM PST by
Tigercap
(Fred)
To: NormsRevenge
Nobody has pointed out that if this hits Mars, it will be an impact, not n air burst. The Mars atmosphere is equivalent to the Earths atmosphere at 100,000 feet (7 millibars).
With that scant an atmosphere, it is not going to burn up before impact.
I am betting that NASA knows it will impact Mars, but do not want to make it a sure thing until they can refine the figures.
......Bob
56 posted on
12/21/2007 1:46:01 PM PST by
Lokibob
(Some people are like slinkys. Useless, but if you throw them down the stairs, you smile.)
To: NormsRevenge
That would be cool!
Maybe even better than the Jupiter hit.
63 posted on
12/21/2007 3:42:30 PM PST by
editor-surveyor
(Turning the general election into a second Democrat primary is not a winning strategy.)
To: NormsRevenge
Here is the NASA release:
Astronomers Monitor Asteroid to Pass Near Mars
12.21.07
WASHINGTON - Astronomers funded by NASA are monitoring the trajectory of an asteroid estimated to be 50 meters (164 feet) wide that is expected to cross Mars' orbital path early next year. Observations provided by the astronomers and analyzed by NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., indicate the object may pass within 30,000 miles of Mars at about 6 a.m. EST (3 a.m. PST) on Jan. 30, 2008.
"Right now asteroid 2007 WD5 is about half-way between Earth and Mars and closing the distance at a speed of about 27,900 miles per hour," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object Office at JPL. "Over the next five weeks, we hope to gather more information from observatories so we can further refine the asteroid's trajectory."
NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth. The Near Earth Object Observation Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," plots the orbits of these objects to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.
Asteroid 2007 WD5 was first discovered on Nov. 20, 2007, by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey and put on a "watch list" because its orbit passes near Earth. Further observations from both the NASA-funded Spacewatch at Kitt Peak, Ariz., and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in New Mexico gave scientists enough data to determine that the asteroid was not a danger to Earth, but could potentially impact Mars. This makes it a member of an interesting class of small objects that are both near Earth objects and "Mars crossers."
Because of current uncertainties about the asteroid's exact orbit, there is a 1-in-75 chance of 2007 WD5 impacting Mars. If this unlikely event were to occur, it would be somewhere within a broad swath across the planet north of where the Opportunity rover is located.
"We estimate such impacts occur on Mars every thousand years or so," said Steve Chesley, a scientist at JPL. "If 2007 WD5 were to thump Mars on Jan. 30, we calculate it would hit at about 30,000 miles per hour and might create a crater more than half-a-mile wide." The Mars Rover Opportunity is exploring a crater approximately this size right now.
Such a collision could release about three megatons of energy. Scientists believe an event of comparable magnitude occurred here on Earth in 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, but no crater was created. The object was disintegrated by Earth's thicker atmosphere before it hit the ground, although the air blast devastated a large area of unpopulated forest.
NASA and its partners will continue to track asteroid 2007 WD5 and will provide an update in January when further information is available. For more information on the Near Earth Object program, visit: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ .
An audio interview/podcast regarding 2007 WD5 is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/jpl-mars-20071220.html
A videofile related to this story is available on NASA TV and the Web. For information and schedules, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.
64 posted on
12/21/2007 3:43:35 PM PST by
Lokibob
(Some people are like slinkys. Useless, but if you throw them down the stairs, you smile.)
To: The SISU kid
65 posted on
12/21/2007 3:46:21 PM PST by
The SISU kid
(I feel really homesick all the time & so do all the other aliens.....)
To: NormsRevenge
70 posted on
12/21/2007 4:25:14 PM PST by
blam
(Secure the border and enforce the law)
84 posted on
12/21/2007 9:42:21 PM PST by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Tuesday, December 18, 2007___________________https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
88 posted on
12/21/2007 9:54:11 PM PST by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Tuesday, December 18, 2007___________________https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: Jeremiah Jr
A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.
89 posted on
12/22/2007 5:00:17 AM PST by
Ezekiel
To: NormsRevenge
Oh, there’s a one in 75 chance it will hit, but if it does, it will be at the equator, near our robot.
Such precision, such bullsh3t.
92 posted on
12/22/2007 1:12:30 PM PST by
aShepard
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This artist rendering uses an arrow to show the predicted path of the asteroid on Jan. 30, 2008, and the orange swath indicates the area it is expected to pass through. Mars may or may not be in its path. Image credit: NASA/JPL