[meteorite-list] Scientist Warns Massive Asteroid Could Hit Earth in 2182
From: almitt2 at localnet.com <almitt2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:11:25 -0400 Message-ID: <20100728201125.q791lz4zsi680ksc_at_webmail.localnet.com> Hi Greg and Greg, 72 years or 172 years, if you are around you'll wish you'd taken better care of yourself. :-) --AL Mitterling Quoting GREG LINDH <geeg48 at msn.com>: > > > > Hi Greg, > > I really suck at math, even so, I believe that would be 172 years > from now, not 72, so you definitely won't be around. > > > > Greg > > > > ---------------------------------------- >> From: stanleygregr at hotmail.com >> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com >> Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:23:46 -0700 >> Subject: [meteorite-list] Scientist Warns Massive Asteroid Could Hit >> Earth in 2182 >> >> >> Wow - that's only 72 years from now... Don't think I'll be around >> >> Greg S. >> >> >> http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/28/massive-asteroid-hit-earth-warn-scientists/?test=faces >> >> >> >> Scientist Warns Massive Asteroid Could Hit Earth in 2182 >> >> A large asteroid in space that has a remote chance of slamming into >> the Earth would be most likely hit in 2182, if it crashed into our >> planet at all, a new study suggests. >> >> The asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, has about a 1-in-1,000 chance of >> actually hitting the Earth, but half of that risk corresponds to >> potential impacts in the year 2182, said study co-author Mar?a >> Eugenia Sansaturio of the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain. >> >> Sansaturio and her colleagues used mathematical models to determine >> the risk of asteroid 1999 RQ36 impacting the Earth through the year >> 2200. They found two potential opportunities for the asteroid to hit >> Earth in 2182. >> >> The research is detailed in the science journal Icarus. >> >> The asteroid was discovered in 1999 and is about 1,837 feet (560 >> meters) across. A space rock this size could cause widespread >> devastation at an impact site in the remote chance that it hit >> Earth, according to a recent report by the National Academy of >> Sciences. >> >> >> Scientists have tracked asteroid 1999 RQ36's orbit through 290 >> optical observations and 13 radar surveys, but there is still some >> uncertainty because of the gentle push it receives from the >> so-called Yarkovsky effect, researchers said. >> >> The Yarkovsky effect, named after the Russian engineer I.O. >> Yarkovsky who proposed it around 1900, describes how an asteroid >> gains momentum from thermal radiation that it emits from its night >> side. Over hundreds of years, the effect's influence on an >> asteroid's orbit could be substantial. >> >> Sansaturio and her colleagues found that through 2060, the chances >> of Earth impacts from 1999 RQ36 are remote, but the odds increase by >> a magnitude of four by 2080 as the asteroid's orbit brings it closer >> to the Earth. >> >> The odds of impact then dip as the asteroid would move away, and >> rise in 2162 and 2182, when it swings back near Earth, the >> researchers found. It's a tricky orbital dance that makes it >> difficult to pin down the odds of impact, they said. >> >> "The consequence of this complex dynamic is not just the likelihood >> of a comparatively large impact, but also that a realistic >> deflection procedure (path deviation) could only be made before the >> impact in 2080, and more easily, before 2060," Sansaturio said in a >> statement. >> >> After 2080, she added, it would be more difficult to deflect the asteroid. >> >> "If this object had been discovered after 2080, the deflection would >> require a technology that is not currently available," Sansaturio >> said. "Therefore, this example suggests that impact monitoring, >> which up to date does not cover more than 80 or 100 years, may need >> to encompass more than one century." >> >> By expanding the timeframe for potential impacts, researchers would >> potentially identify the most threatening space rocks with enough >> time to mount deflection campaigns that are both technologically and >> financially feasible, Sansaturio said. >> >> ______________________________________________ >> Visit the Archives at >> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html >> Meteorite-list mailing list >> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > Received on Wed 28 Jul 2010 08:11:25 PM PDT |
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