Another impact, E.P.!
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:54 am
This one – 1,837 feet wide – looks set to hit us in 172 years. MAYBE.
We better get our tin foil hats out!
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/ ... 967908.htmAstronomers discover new threat to Earth
Astronomers have detected a half-kilometre wide asteroid that appears to be on a collision course with the Earth - in 172 years time.
Reporting in the journal Icarus, scientists say the asteroid named 1999-RQ36 has a one-in-a-thousand chance of hitting the Earth in 2182.
Known as a PHA, or potentially hazardous asteroid, the asteroid was first discovered about 10 years ago and since then astronomers have been plotting its orbital trajectory.
Co-author of the study, Dr Maria Eugenia Sansaturio from Spain's Universidad de Valladolid, says the total impact probability for 1999-RQ36 is estimated to be 0.092%, and that 2182 is the most likely year for an impact to occur. [...]
We better get our tin foil hats out!