Russian Scientists Say Asteroid on Collision Course With Earth

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Not to alarm you, but Russian scientists estimate Earth will be hit by an asteroid on April 13, 2036. Should we start packing our bags now? And where would we go?

In 2004, NASA suggested the possibility that the asteroid called Apophis, bigger than two football fields, might collide with our planet in 2029. Further computations changed their minds about that prediction.

And now, Russian figures give us a new date for a possible encounter with the giant rock from space.

"Technically, they're correct -- there is a chance in 2036" that Apophis will hit Earth, Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, told the Life's Little Mysteries website.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/10/russian-scientists-say-asteroid-on-collision-course-with-earth/

At least it will hit before the income tax deadline

[hughee99]

1. I wonder if they'll push the deadline up. n/t

[JI7]

2. do they know where it will hit ?

[Bandit]

25. If it is big enough to track this many years out, it really doesn't matter where it hits

All life (on Earth) will be gone..

[IDemo]

34. Not quite

At any of the size ranges I've read for this object ("two football fields" above, to 350 meters) it would make a good sized boom, but nothing even remotely in the class of the dinosaur killing asteroid.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. In 2036 I will be 88, or most likely dead, but...

if I'm not dead by then, it will be fascinating to see what happens. (And I no doubt will be dead real soon after it.)

Younger people might have a real reason to worry, though-- read "Lucifer's Hammer" and have nightmares for the next 25 years.

[glinda]

7. I will be 80. Most likely tired anyways.

[Old Troop]

11. Dammit! I'll only be 81 -- in the prime of my life.

[calimary]

24. OMG!!! "Lucifer's Hammer"! What a book!

Does make you want to stockpile some zip-lock bags.

[rhett o rick]

26. Wow you are an oldbastard and treasonous to boot.

I'll be 91 waiting for impact with a dry vodka martini.

[1monster]

31. Hmmm... Better drink that dry vodka martini BEFORE impact, 'cause I doubt you'll

get the opportunity after impact. At the very least, the impact will make the martini slosh out of your glass if you don't. :evilgrin:

[rhett o rick]

35. Hmmm, good point. Maybe it wont be my first. nm

[Mojorabbit]

33. Great book. nt

[Raster]

4. Do you have a link to the Russian report?

I'd like to read more.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

17. sorry about that. here's a link:

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/10/russian-scientists-say-asteroid-on-collision-course-with-earth/

[Raster]

32. No worries! Thanks for providing it.

:hi:

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The actual Russian report says 'may'

But the game of Chinese whispers in websites nicking stories off other sites have changed that into 'will'.

Russian astronomers have predicted that asteroid Apophis may strike Earth on April 13, 2036.

"Apophis will approach Earth at a distance of 37,000-38,000 kilometers on April 13, 2029. Its likely collision with Earth may occur on April 13, 2036," Professor Leonid Sokolov of the St. Petersburg State University said.

The scientist said, however, the chance of a collision in 2036 was extremely slim saying that the asteroid would likely disintegrate into smaller parts and smaller collisions with Earth could occur in the following years.

"Our task is to consider various alternatives and develop scenarios and plans of action depending on the results of further observations of Apophis," Sokolov said.

http://en.rian.ru/science/20110126/162318648.html

And the AOL story also says:

"But Yeomans added that the odds of this happening are only 1 in 250,000."

http://news.aol.ca/2011/02/10/russian-scientists-say-asteroid-on-collision-course-with-earth/

[mainer]

6. not to ALARM US?!!!

I'm having two martinis tonight.

[HereSince1628]

8. Not within my life expectancy, don't ask me to pay for stopping it

I paid for the greatest generations SS
and mine and everyone's in between...
I've done my damnedest to be a good consumer.

Don't expect me to pay to stop the apocalypse too.

[quinnox]

9. That asteroid is not an extinction level size

Its a baby compared to another one that might hit us.

According to this story, a massive asteroid has a 1 in 1000 chance of hitting us sometime before 2200.


A massive asteroid might crash into Earth in the year 2182, scientists have warned.

The asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, has a 1-in-1,000 chance of actually hitting the Earth at some point before the year 2200, but is most likely to hit us on 24th September 2182.

It was first discovered in 1999 and is more than 1,800 feet across. If an asteroid of this size hit the Earth it would cause widespread devastation and possible mass extinction.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1298285/Massive-asteroid-hit-Earth-2182-warn-scientists.html

[SidDithers]

12. I would take any Daily Mail science reporting...

with a boulder sized chunk of road salt.

Edit: DU'ers guide to British media sources
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=300759

Sid

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. House Republicans voted Wednesday to repeal the Asteroid Destruction and American Preservation Act

WASHINGTON—In a strong rebuke of President Obama and his domestic agenda, all 242 House Republicans voted Wednesday to repeal the Asteroid Destruction and American Preservation Act, which was signed into law last year to destroy the immense asteroid currently hurtling toward Earth.

The $440 billion legislation, which would send a dozen high-thrust plasma impactor probes to shatter the massive asteroid before it strikes the planet, would affect more than 300 million Americans and is strongly opposed by the GOP.

"The voters sent us to Washington to stand up for individual liberty, not big government," Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said at a press conference. "Obama's plan would take away citizens' fundamental freedoms, forcing each of us into hastily built concrete bunkers and empowering the federal government to ration our access to food, water, and potassium iodide tablets while underground."
"We believe that the decisions of how to deal with the massive asteroid are best left to the individual," King added.

Repealing the act, which opponents have branded 'Obamastroid,' has been the cornerstone of the GOP agenda since the law's passage last August. Throughout the 2010 elections, Republican candidates claimed that the Democrats' plan to smash the space rock and shield citizens from its fragments was "a classic example of the federal government needlessly interfering in the lives of everyday Americans."
"This law is a job killer," said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who argued the tax increases required to save the human species from annihilation would impose unbearably high costs on businesses. "If we sit back and do nothing, Obamastroid will result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, which we simply can't afford in this economy."

More at:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/republicans-vote-to-repeal-obamabacked-bill-that-w,19025/

[Newest Reality]

13. Love the Onion!

There is nothing profitable in any short-term projections when it comes to stopping asteroids. And isn't that a video game?

[calimary]

29. I don't know what's scarier,

either the idea that an asteroid really could strike the earth, or that I wouldn't be surprised to hear people like the steve kings and the virginia foxxes saying exactly those things regarding any legislation put forward by Dems that might mitigate the damages. Seems to me we're almost guaranteed to have obstructors by then, too, who believe this penny-wise/pound-foolish short-term-greed shit. I keep wishing they'd go away. And they never do. They only seem to get louder and more pig-headed.

[neverforget]

14. No it won't

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/02/09/media-fail-again-huffpo-and-apophis-edition/

--snip--
Oh for FSM’s sake. Again?

First, let me be clear: the odds of the 250-meter-wide asteroid Apophis hitting the Earth in 2036 are extremely slim, like less than 1 in 135,000 (and I just heard 1 in 250,000 from another expert). This is less than the odds of getting dealt a straight flush in five-card stud poker. Those are teeny tiny odds.

So then why oh why did The Huffington Post just put up an article about Apophis hitting us in 2036? With the headline "Apophis Asteroid Could Hit Earth In 2036, Scientists Say"? After I already posted that this original story was totally garbled by a Russian journalist, who grossly misquoted a Russian astronomer?
--snip--

[thelordofhell]

15. This will be the next boogeyman

After absolutely nothing happens in 2012

[dkofos]

16. Won't happen in my life time.

[FLyellowdog]

18. I'll be 90 and won't give a damn. nt

[asjr]

19. I'll be 104 so I won't feel a thing.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

20. How big of a piece of memory foam would it take to save us?? Just sayin', that

is some amazing stuff that.

[quinnox]

21. lol

[Ezlivin]

22. I'll be living in DU's Martian colony, wearing shorts and drinking Deimos Tequila

We'll watch the asteroid fly by....

[BzaDem]

23. It is rediculous how this debunked claim is being reported by AOL as "news." The odds of this

happening in 2036 are infinitesimal.

[immoderate]

27. Ha! Who says we will last that long?

At least one world destruction is bound to happen before then.

--imm

[Itchinjim]

28. I'm thinking a well aimed nuke would pretty much vaporize an object the size of

two football fields. I ain't to worried about it even though I'll only be 76.

[jakeXT]

30. let's wait for that 2029 keyhole event

The Russian researchers theorize that the nearly 1,000-foot-diameter Apophis might pass through an area in space called a gravitational keyhole in its 2029 pass of Earth. This keyhole might alter the asteroid's course and aim it for a more direct hit of our home planet.

Yeomans explains that NASA isn't concerned about Apophis coming too close to us in 2029.

"We've already ruled out the possibility of it hitting at that time," he said. "On the other hand, if it goes through what we call a keyhole during that close Earth encounter ... then it will indeed be perturbed just right so that it will come back and smack Earth on April 13, 2036."