Asteroid may hit Mars in next month

[slowhand]

LOS ANGELES - Mars could be in for an asteroid hit.


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.

"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_on_sc/mars_asteroid;_ylt=AjVWwIs5lJ94ORmfBrz.EwAPLBIF

 

[cartman24]

I would laugh my ass off if it slammed into the mars rover.

 

[AFA]

Mars has been easily visible in the Eastern sky, upper left by about two fists width from Orion as a salmon colored light of good brightness and clarity. I need to check with binoculars but think that might be something to see if in your night sky depending on your location and it got hit. Woah!

 

[BlueBalls]

Cool id love to see that

 

[om3ga]

Sorry to sound selfish, but rather Mars than Terra Firma....:eek:

 

[AFA]

1:75 chance they said, and half the Earth is in darkness half the day so make actually seeing it, 1:150, and it has to be high enough in the sky to avoid treelines and atmosphere on the horizon, so it would be a 1:450 chance you'd actually see it if you stayed up on the off chance.

 

[senob44]

1:75 chance they said, and half the Earth is in darkness half the day so make actually seeing it, 1:150, and it has to be high enough in the sky to avoid treelines and atmosphere on the horizon, so it would be a 1:450 chance you'd actually see it if you stayed up on the off chance.

That's about the same odds as a Barbary macaque shooting his load when the female macaque is not making any noises!

 

[Friday on my mind]

But I think those odds are way better than playing the lottery so get out there!!:tongue:

 

[AFA]

That's about the same odds as a Barbary macaque shooting his load when the female macaque is not making any noises!

Yes, comparible to an African Swallow flying across the English Channel at maximum air speed velocity on a winter morning in less than 6 hours.


Not very good.

 

[juballs]

thats something that will probably not happen again for thousands to millions of years, so i suggest that those 1:450 odds are possibly the best chance to see something that rarely ever occurs.
i know i will be outside

 

[bigbadbrody]

look closely by the moon and you may actually see Mars, it will be the brightest on the 34th of December

 

[D-rock]

If your going to go out and watch it even if it does hit Mars I don't think it will be visible to the naked eye.

1:75 chance they said, and half the Earth is in darkness half the day so make actually seeing it, 1:150, and it has to be high enough in the sky to avoid treelines and atmosphere on the horizon, so it would be a 1:450 chance you'd actually see it if you stayed up on the off chance.

You forgot to calculate the change it could hit on the far side of Mars and still not be visible. :1orglaugh

 

[geraldhp42]

Yes, comparible to an African Swallow flying across the English Channel at maximum air speed velocity on a winter morning in less than 6 hours.

This mad me chuckle. Thanks for making sure it was an African swallow and not a European swallow.

 

[DrDetroit]

There is a robot on Mars near the expected impact, we could get footage of the hit! :thumbsup:

http://robots.net/article/2427.html

"If the asteroid hits, the impact will likely be in the area that Mars rover Opportunity is in. The robot is believed to be outside the immediate impact zone so it should be able to safely observe the explosion that would result from the asteroid hitting at 13.5 km/s, releasing the equivalent of 3 MT of TNT. The resulting crater could be a half a mile wide. Impacts of this size are estimated to occur only once every one thousand years. "