[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

The Media Flips Over Tulsi & Matt Gaetz, Biden & Trump Take A Pic, & Famous People Leave Twitter!

4 arrested in California car insurance scam: 'Clearly a human in a bear suit'

Silk Road Founder Trusts Trump To 'Honor His Pledge' For Commutation

"You DESERVED to LOSE the Senate, the House, and the Presidency!" - Jordan Peterson

"Grand Political Theatre"; FBI Raids Home Of Polymarket CEO; Seize Phone, Electronics

Schoolhouse Limbo: How Low Will Educators Go To Better Grades?

BREAKING: U.S. Army Officers Made a Desperate Attempt To Break Out of The Encirclement in KURSK

Trumps team drawing up list of Pentagon officers to fire, sources say

Israeli Military Planning To Stay in Gaza Through 2025

Hezbollah attacks Israeli army's Tel Aviv HQ twice in one day

People Can't Stop Talking About Elon's Secret Plan For MSNBC And CNN Is Totally Panicking

Tucker Carlson UNLOADS on Diddy, Kamala, Walz, Kimmel, Rich Girls, Conspiracy Theories, and the CIA!

"We have UFO technology that enables FREE ENERGY" Govt. Whistleblowers

They arrested this woman because her son did WHAT?

Parody Ad Features Company That Offers to Cryogenically Freeze Liberals for Duration of TrumpÂ’s Presidency

Elon and Vivek BEGIN Reforming Government, Media LOSES IT

Dear Border Czar: This Nonprofit Boasts A List Of 400 Companies That Employ Migrants

US Deficit Explodes: Blowout October Deficit Means 2nd Worst Start To US Fiscal Year On Record

Gaetz Resigns 'Effective Immediately' After Trump AG Pick; DC In Full Blown Panic

MAHA MEME

noone2222 and John Bolton sitting in a tree K I S S I N G

Donald Trump To Help Construct The Third Temple?

"The Elites Want To ROB Us of Our SOVEREIGNTY!" | Robert F Kennedy

Take Your Money OUT of THESE Banks NOW! - Jim Rickards

Trump Taps Tulsi Gabbard As Director Of National Intelligence

DC In Full Blown Panic After Trump Picks Matt Gaetz For Attorney General

Cleveland Clinic Warns Wave of Mass Deaths Will Wipe Out Covid-Vaxxed Within ‘5 Years’

Judah-ism is as Judah-ism does

Danger ahead: November 2024, Boston Dynamics introduces a fully autonomous "Atlas" robot. Robot humanoids are here.

Trump names [Fox News host] Pete Hegseth as his Defense secretary


Science/Tech
See other Science/Tech Articles

Title: Asteroid risk to Earth lowered, scientists say
Source: MSNBC
URL Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12859900/
Published: Jun 8, 2006
Author: Alan Boyle
Post Date: 2006-06-08 04:01:49 by Neil McIver
Keywords: astroid, doomsday, were all gonna die
Views: 44
Comments: 2

Chances of impact move ‘in right direction,’ toward odds of 1-in-24,000

After a fresh round of radar observations, astronomers said Thursday that the chances of a catastrophic asteroid impact in the year 2036 are lower than previously thought — and they're hoping the threat will be completely ruled out once more readings are made.

The chances of collision with the asteroid Apophis in 2036 now stand at 1 in 24,000, said Steve Chesley, an expert on near-Earth objects at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That's a significant advance from the previous orbital predictions, which set the odds of impact at 1 out of about 6,000.

Chesley told http://MSNBC.com that there's still a slim chance of catastrophe, due to the remaining uncertainties about Apophis' orbital path, but "things are moving in the right direction."

Apophis, also known as 2004 MN4, was detected in 2004 and has been a source of concern since late that year. Astronomers estimate its diameter at about 1,300 feet (400 meters) — which means a collision would spark a regional catastrophe, though not a global extinction event on the scale of the dinosaurs' demise.

A strike in the Pacific Ocean would set off a "cosmic Katrina" capable of doing an estimated $400 billion worth of damage, according to the B612 Foundation. For that reason, astronomers are keen to reduce the projected risk to zero if they can — and devise a mission to divert the space rock if they can't.

Apophis is a special case because it spends most of its time within Earth's orbit, making observations difficult. The May 6-7 window for radar observations represented the best opportunity until the end of 2012. Jon Giorgini, a senior analyst for the Solar Systems Dynamics Group at JPL, said the Arecibo team got a good fix on Apophis.

"We were able to improve our understanding of its motion by about 6 millimeters per second," Giorgini.

Those readings underwent analysis for more than a week, and on Thursday, the researchers felt confident enough to share the results.

Will it hit the 'keyhole'?

The key calculations actually have to do with an encounter with Earth in the year 2029. If Apophis passes through a well-defined area of space no wider than a half-mile (1 kilometer), known as a "keyhole," the gravitational deflection will put the rock on a course to hit Earth seven years later. "You go through that little hole, and you're going to hit the earth," Chesley explained.

The uncertainty has to do with whether Apophis' path will take it through the keyhole in 2029. Although this month's observations reduced its chances of hitting the keyhole, there's still a margin of error that needs to be accounted for.

Asteroid-watchers have emphasized that there's nothing to worry about yet. In fact, Apophis appears to be following the pattern set by previous asteroid alerts, Chesley said.

"We've seen this happen very often," he said, "where [the perceived risk] rises to some level and starts to steady, then drops off. ... It goes up, and then it goes down. We're very much on a steady downward trend."

Click for Full Text!

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: Neil McIver (#0)

check out some of the things on this site about planet x http://xfacts.com

The mind once expanded by a new idea never returns to its' original size

Itisa1mosttoolate  posted on  2006-06-08   4:13:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Neil McIver (#0)

Hmm. Can we trust this? At least they aren't economists. That would really worry me.


That must have been one helluva party. I fell asleep in Mayberry and woke up in Gaczyna.

Tauzero  posted on  2006-06-08   9:39:35 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]