Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2029

[Taylor]

Not quite current yet, but will be:

Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2029

There's a 1-in-300 chance that a recently discovered asteroid, believed to be about 1,300 feet long, could hit Earth in 2029, a NASA (news - web sites) scientist said Thursday, but he added that the perceived risk probably will be eliminated once astronomers get more detail about its orbit.



There have been only a limited number of sightings of Asteroid 2004 MN4, which has been given an initial rating of 2 on the 10-point Torino Impact Hazard Scale used by astronomers to predict asteroid or comet impacts, said Donald Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.


No previously observed asteroid has been graded higher than 1.


On Friday, April 13, 2029, "we can't yet rule out an Earth impact," Yeomans said. "But the impact probability, as we call it, is 300-to-1 against an impact."


The asteroid was discovered in June and rediscovered this month.


"This is not a problem for anyone and it shouldn't be a concern to anyone, but whenever we post one of these things and ... somebody gets ahold of it, it just gets crazy," he said.


"In the unlikely event that it did hit, it would be quite serious. We're talking either a tsunami if it hit in the ocean, which would be likely, or significant ground damage," Yeomans said.


Its estimated size has been inferred from its brightness, which assumes that its reflectivity is similar to other asteroids that have been observed. At about 1,320 feet in length, it would have about 1,600 megatons of energy, Yeomans said.


Asteroid 2004 MN4 takes less than a year to go all the way around the sun and on each orbit it passes by Earth's orbit twice, Yeomans said. It is also nearly on the same plane as Earth's orbit.


The asteroid will be visible for the next several months and the NEO program has alerted its network of ground-based observers to include 2004 MN4 in their searches.


Yeomans said there have now been about 40 observations, first from the observatory at Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Ariz., and this month from Australia and New Zealand.

Source

Whats stranger is since this article came out, the odds have increased to a 1 to 37 ration

According to NASA :

Impact Probability: 2.7e-02

2.700000000% chance of Earth impact

or

1 in 37 chance

or

97.30000000% chance the asteroid will miss the Earth

 

[ravensteve1961]

Then NASA better start getting to work and create and astroid defense sheild like ether try to change the course of the astroid like making hit venus or Fire a rocket with nukes in it to split it apart.

 

[DeafSCUBA98]

*tring to get back in topic*

Believe it or not.. if asteroid hit earth.. and its small which isn't impactable to destroy the earth.. there's alot of valuable things.. i'll want to have at least 1 lb of rock.. they're gonna be valuable

i remember they said once.. the huge asteroid more than 7 miles long plan on hitting earth and will end the world. but the chance blew it away and they're going a bit off the track right now..

 

[Vance]

lol, yes. I remember few books as well when I was kid.. the books were ranting that we can live in space station by 2000 or live in moon base... with gravity technology.

 

[VamPyroX]

If it hits Earth... COOL!

Actually, I'd make the best of life... then moments before it hits, I'd sit outside and drink a bottle of Coca-Cola!

 

[Y]

If it hits Earth... COOL!

Actually, I'd make the best of life... then moments before it hits, I'd sit outside and drink a bottle of Coca-Cola!

Hahah Vamp, I LOVE your attitude here !!!

 

[Nesmuth]

It gonna be a miss, they ruled it out after studying it's orbit.

We need to be doing something like cleaning up the solar system of unwanted objects and space junk that could cause harm to Earth. We should develop small cluster robots that will hunt these objects and steer them into the sun or other planets so they dont have a chance at getting close to Earth or space stations.

Richard

 

[harleymn]

yeah if you

If it hits Earth... COOL!

Actually, I'd make the best of life... then moments before it hits, I'd sit outside and drink a bottle of Coca-Cola!

sit outside i hope it doest strike you on the head heheh!

 

[saxxykitty78]

If it hits Earth... COOL!

Actually, I'd make the best of life... then moments before it hits, I'd sit outside and drink a bottle of Coca-Cola!

be sure to be under shade not let asteriod hit u but sure I will join u and and say dang.. time sure go fast and we wud be old farts by then.. don't u agree with me?

 

[Kalista]

If it hits Earth... COOL!

Actually, I'd make the best of life... then moments before it hits, I'd sit outside and drink a bottle of Coca-Cola!

Get married Cheri at the beach. bbnt will be your paster. Alex and Angel will be your best man and maid of honor.

 

[suethomas_db]

yeah it might not even hit the earth theres a bigger chance it wont but that lil bit of chance means it could still happen i just say live life to the max which i always do anyway lol :P im not worrying at all im sure they will be able to get more information soon chloe xxx

 

[nozobo]

Get married Cheri at the beach. bbnt will be your paster. Alex and Angel will be your best man and maid of honor.

don't forget who will be invited to the wedding... ALLDEAF!

 

[sequoias]

2.7 percent chance...that's not much, 2029 is a long way to go from 2005. that's at least 20 years from now. I'll be old fart man in 2029. blah

 

[Kalista]

*gasp*

Killer the dinosaurs