Asteroid to hit Earth in 2036?

[walldude]

http://www.deepastronomy.com/apophis-asteroid-could-hit-earth.html

"We're not out of the woods yet. As you may know, when one celestial object passes close to another one, their orbits are altered a bit by the gravitational forces interacting between the two bodies. Since Apophis is much smaller than the Earth (it is 320 meters - or 1050 feet- across), its orbit will be the one affected. As it flies by our humble little planet, its orbit will change.

So, after astronomers had determined that the April 2029 encounter wasn't going to impact the Earth, they ran some simulations and found that the orbit of the asteroid will bend about 28 degrees, altering its course.

The flyby will make the orbit a bit bigger and Apophis will travel a bit slower. How much the orbit changes depends on how close it gets to us. If it flies through a specific 610-meter wide region of space as it goes past us in 2029, then Apophis' and the Earth will be in the exact same spot 7 years later on Sunday, April 13th, 2036."



You know, this is just an evil librul plot to make you think Social Security should be left alone since it's in the black till 2037.

[Statistical]

1. At least we will have 7 years of warning.

[MzShellG]

28. Interesting name.....

Apophis is a magical serpent in ancient Egyptian mythology. Wonder if there are any implications?

[RKP5637]

2. And earth will cleanse itself. n/t

[Angry Dragon]

3. Laughed at your last sentence

Thank you

[Fuzz]

4. Sweet

[Drale]

5. Whoever named that astroid must have been an SG-1 fan

If it does hit earth it won't matter because it will be an apocolypse level event.

[eShirl]

18. Indeed.

[Ichingcarpenter]

24. Only a SG1 fan would understand indeed

LOL

[Posteritatis]

27. Hee. (nt)

[sufrommich]

6. NASA says "meh" .......

FUTURE

The future for Apophis on Friday, April 13 of 2029 includes an approach to Earth no closer than 29,470 km (18,300 miles, or 5.6 Earth radii from the center, or 4.6 Earth-radii from the surface) over the mid-Atlantic, appearing to the naked eye as a moderately bright point of light moving rapidly across the sky. Depending on its mechanical nature, it could experience shape or spin-state alteration due to tidal forces caused by Earth's gravity field.

This is within the distance of Earth's geosynchronous satellites. However, because Apophis will pass interior to the positions of these satellites at closest approach, in a plane inclined at 40 degrees to the Earth's equator and passing outside the equatorial geosynchronous zone when crossing the equatorial plane, it does not threaten the satellites in that heavily populated region.

Using criteria developed in this research, new measurements possible in 2013 (if not 2011) will likely confirm that in 2036 Apophis will quietly pass more than 49 million km (30.5 million miles; 0.32 AU) from Earth on Easter Sunday of that year (April 13).
Edited to add link:


http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. Thanks for the link

It's amazing the detail they've had to use to make predictions - the oblateness of the earth, for instance. It's also a good example of how initial conditions can make a huge difference in a complex system.

[Denninmi]

7. Well, then might as well max out the old credit card in 2035.

Or, as Prince said, "Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Considering how old I'll be by then, I'll have maxed out my Visa

on Geritol and Depends.

[cloudbase]

8. I won't be sweating this one.

Putting a 320 meter diameter object through a 610 meter hole would be like me hitting a tee shot in Houston and getting a hole in one over in Japan.

[mindwalker_i]

9. I Wanna Rock!

Never take it for granite.

[Wilms]

10. Talk about New World Order. n/t

[doc03]

11. So what we are all going to die in 2012 anyway, if not I won't

be around in 2036 either way.

[applegrove]

12. Bruce Willis is so on the case we don't need to worry. Maybe there are other republicans who want to

help out.

[Motown_Johnny]

13. If it flies through a specific 610-meter wide region of space

just think about that for a while









We have all known about this for years. The odds of it hitting this keyhole are so tiny as to be hardly worth mentioning. I will admit the chance is not zero so it is worth mentioning, but not by much.

If anyone was really worried about it se would do something like launch debris (even just sand) into that 610 meter wide area so that if Apophis did hit that space it's velocity would decrease slightly and it would miss us in 2036.

Don't go losing any sleep over it.

[guitar man]

17. What are the odds?

Sounds like a real long shot. If someone is making book on it, I just might have to plop down a c-note, I love a long shot! :silly:

[cloudbase]

25. 50-50

It either will or it won't. That narrows the longest of odds. Like the Browns getting to the Super Bowl.

[toddaa]

14. 2036? GOOD!!!

That'll eliminate the impending doom that will befall civilization in 2038.

[RagAss]

15. I'm all for it.

[guitar man]

16. 2036

...party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 2035!


:D

[GiveMeFreedom]

19. Ba Jeebus,

We won't be here folks, the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, so don't fret. :rofl:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. I thought the Rapture was coming this May!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. 2036 is an election year. The Pols will be making some big promises. "Change we can believe in"?

[slackmaster]

26. This is actually a relief for people who support legacy Unix systems

The 31-bit Unix time system will run out of numbers in 2038, if 2038 actually happens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem