[meteorite-list] Astroid Musical Chairs - No!

From: Spaceguard <mail_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:03:28 +0100
Message-ID: <001501c89fec$2d11f930$139cfea9_at_Asus>

All twaddle!! Well done the media (yet again).

http://cosmos4u.blogspot.com/2008/04/apophis-risk-not-increased-science-fair.html

Jay Tate
The Spaceguard Centre

----- Original Message -----
From: <mexicodoug at aim.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 6:46 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Astroid Musical Chairs


> Hi Listees,
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080415/sc_afp/spaceastronomygermany_080415214429
>
> This is a refreshing tale of armorget'um, astroids and satlites - about
> hope and the creativity of young minds!
>
> [Even Jason might be over the hill ... is there a 9-year old on the list
> who can tell the boffins at Yahoo News how to spell "Astroid" - or
> congratulate the kid for already writing bilingual scientific papers ;)
> ("Astroid" spelling at end of article as of 17:30 UT).]
>
> German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper Tue Apr 15,
> 5:44 PM ET
>
> BERLIN (AFP) - A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates
> on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper
> reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated.
>
> Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics
> in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a 1 in 450 chance that the
> Apophis asteroid will collide with Earth, the Potsdamer Neuerster
> Nachrichten reported.
>
> NASA had previously estimated the chances at only 1 in 45,000 but told its
> sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young
> whizzkid had got it right.
>
> The schoolboy took into consideration the risk of Apophis running into one
> or more of the 40,000 satellites orbiting Earth during its path close to
> the planet on April 13 2029.
>
> Those satellites travel at 3.07 kilometres a second (1.9 miles), at up to
> 35,880 kilometres above earth -- and the Apophis asteroid will pass by
> earth at a distance of 32,500 kilometres.
>
> If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its
> trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.
>
> Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with
> earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet)
> wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic
> Ocean.
>
> The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both
> coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that
> would darken the skies indefinitely.
>
> The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science
> competition for which he submitted a project entitled: "Apophis -- The
> Killer Astroid."
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Received on Wed 16 Apr 2008 02:03:28 PM PDT