Asteriod Slated to hit Earth

[OnyxCougar]

CNN article

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A giant asteroid is heading for Earth and could hit in 2014, U.S. astronomers have warned British space monitors.

But for those fearing Armageddon, don't be alarmed -- the chances of a catastrophic collision are just one in 909,000.

Asteroid "2003 QQ47" will be closely monitored over the next two months. Its potential strike date is March 21, 2014, but astronomers say that any risk of impact is likely to decrease as further data is gathered.

On impact, it could have the effect of 20 million Hiroshima atomic bombs, a spokesman for the British government's Near Earth Object Information Centre told BBC radio.

The Centre issued the warning about the asteroid after the giant rock was first observed in New Mexico by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Program.

"The Near Earth Object will be observable from Earth for the next two months and astronomers will continue to track it over this period," said Dr Alan Fitzsimmons, one of the expert team advising the Centre.

Asteroids such as 2003 QQ47 are chunks of rock left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Most are kept at a safe distance from the Earth in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

But the gravitational influence of giant planets such as Jupiter can nudge asteroids out of these safe orbits and send them plunging towards Earth.

So here's my favorite part:

But for those fearing Armageddon, don't be alarmed -- the chances of a catastrophic collision are just one in 909,000.

Is this supposed to make me feel better??! Like it's LESS likely to occur?

I checked the National Safety Council Odds page. Every person has a 1 in 716,010 chance of being killed by FIREWORKS.

So the Earth getting wiped out by this particular asteroid is just a little less likely than the average schmuck getting killed by fireworks.

Which is fine, until you realize that 5 people in the United States died from Fireworks in 2000.

Thoughts??

5 out of how many people? 270 million?

I wouldn't worry about it. Worrying about it doesn't fix it, and it probably won't happen anyway, in which case, worrying was completely uncalled for.

If it does hit, so what? At least you have ten years of notice. Make the most of the last ten years of your life.

[Whit]

     Jokes aside, if it does turn out that it would hit Earth all the combined scientists on the planet working with the military would have over a decade to find a way to stop it from happening. I think we can handle it at this time.

[elSicomoro]

When the Lord punches my timecard, then it is my time to go. If we can avoid this type of catastrophe, great! If not, *shrugs* what the hell can you do?

[Whit]

     Screw that, Syc. We ain't dinosaurs, we don't have to put up with this shit. Hell, given a couple o' years I bet we could have some bombs ready to alter it's orbit. A couple of those bunker buster types that go beneath the surface so the vacuum won't be such a problem.
     There's something to be said for your "when life gives you lemons make lemonade" approach. However, I much prefer the Philosophy of Calvin, "When life gives me lemons I whiff 'em right back and add a few of my own."

[Undertoad]

Besides, we don't have to hit the thing so hard that it misses the Earth... just hard enough that it delays hitting it until our side is pointed the other way.

[Uryoces]

Originally posted by Undertoad
Besides, we don't have to hit the thing so hard that it misses the Earth... just hard enough that it delays hitting it until our side is pointed the other way.

Oooo ... dark side points for you, tempting as that may sound. We have far too many nukes, and we'll use them on such an asteroid. Something that size would affect everyone regardless.

Now if they said it was going to hit in 2012...

[Undertoad]

[juju]

No one will try to come up with a way to deflect the asteroid because odds are it won't happen. So, in the extremely unlikely event that it actually is headed for us, I really doubt anything will be done about it in time.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Feh...Bring it on.:p

[Whit]

     So what if we ignore the situation until just weeks before it hits? We can always send up Bruce Willis to take care of the problem for us.

     On the other hand UT has a point. An asteroid that size could bring peace to the middle east...

[Elspode]

This whole 'asteroid could hit the earth' thing that they've been doing the past couple of years is lots of fun. We get to be all scared for awhile, and then after another month of observations, they get enough orbital data to find out that it isn't coming within 700,000 miles of Earth. Yeah, that's close by astronomical standards, but still so far away that a telescopic view wouldn't yield any detail from my backyard.

[Whit]

     Face it people, life was more fun during the cold war when getting nuked at any given moment was a probability. Living every day like it was your last was easy back when Ronny the Raygun had his finger on the button. This is just bringing back some of the fun of that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I refuse to lose any sleep over this threat I can't do anything about, unless it's part of making sure I don't die horny.

[Whit]

     What??? Bruce, I'm confused, there are moments when you're not horny?