asteroid impact of 2012

C

cato

less hate, more science
Registered Senior Member
hello everyone, I have a friend who was talking about the deep-impact mission being preparation for taking out a near earth asteroid (NEA). that got me thinking, and I recalled there was an asteroid passing earth around 2012 (if I remember correctly). last I heard I think they gave it like 1 in 40 odds of hitting (could be wrong about that, I am getting all of this from memory).

anyway, I was wondering whatever happened to that asteroid? have they figured out that it will miss? or is the jury still out?

any news would be a help.
 
when you post crap like that, it does not help anyone.

I repeat, does anyone have anymore information about that asteroid?
 
I don't remember the exact place, but somewhere at the NASA website there is a chart with all known most dangerous asteroids and the odds of them hitting the Earth.
 
Hum,
i prefer the close flyby on Friday 13th, April 2029 of <a href="http://www.geocities.com/douglasrana/2004mn4.htm">2004MN4</a>.

If the asteroid were to pass through a "keyhole" in an error ellipse just 640 meters across – about twice the diameter of the asteroid itself - the object would enter a trajectory that would result in a collision with the Earth on April 13, 2036...

If the orbit did coincide with the orbit of the Earth, then the speed and size would translate to an impact event of only about 1,400 megatons of energy.

Incidentally the asteroid has just been named <b>Apophis</b>, it had previously just been numbered 99942 (2004 mn4)
Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian god Apep.

It's traditional to name Aten-class asteroids after Egyptian gods.
One problem is that 2004MN4 will become an Apollo-class asteroid after the 2029 close approach, and Apollo-class asteroids have traditionally been named after Greek gods. So a Greek name for an Egyptian god was chosen.
Apophis is the god of evil and destruction, who was usually thwarted in his destructive efforts. ;)
 
Of course, for Apophis to be defeated, he usually required Set to be the one giving the beatdown. And Set is now working for the other team, so to speak. The good thing is that Apophis only cares about the sun, not the earth.

And this was a completely useless piece of mythological trivia.
 
On the US sit-com Third Rock From the Sun, about a bunch of aliens that move to Ohio, in one episode the high commander (human name-Dick Solomon) let's it slip that the Earth will be destroyed by an asteroid in 2015!

Hi all! It's my first post. Thought I'd try to keep it light to begin.
 
hello topcat, welcome to sciforums, whatever your view is, we will find someone to oppose it.
 
Yes, yes. We all worship Third Rock from the Sun and base our lives around it. It is the source of all knowledge, divine and otherwise.
 
Blandnuts said:
December 21, 2012 is the end of the mayan calender...uh oh
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a bit of a :eek: moment, isn't it--it's interesting how the Mayan calendar date seems to match in with the idea that an asteroid is going to smack into us--but if you look at any map of Earth-crossing asteroid paths, (which is very definitely :eek: material) you'll see that there are literally thousands of possibilities for a cataclysmic impact. I'm just amazed we've been lucky so far--that big impact in Siberia in 1908, for instance--if that had hit five hours later, the Earth would have turned enough for the rock to hit St. Petersburg. Now that would have had some very interesting effects on the subsequent history of Russia/Soviet Union.
 
The Mayan Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar are not the same. Is that date (21/12/2012) already converted to the calendar that we use?
 
Communist Hamster said:
No, it's going to hit us and we're all going to die.

*shouts* URI, get over here. /shout
Click to expand...

Will that be on a Friday or Sat.? I don't want it to mess-up a long weekend.

Okeydoke
 
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