Asteroid may hit Mars Jan 30th

[n2doc]

Researchers say the object, about 160 feet across, has an unusually good chance of plowing into the planet Jan. 30.
By John Johnson Jr., Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 21, 2007
Talk about your cosmic pileups.

An asteroid similar to the one that flattened forests in Siberia in 1908 could plow into Mars next month, scientists said Thursday.

Researchers attached to NASA's Near-Earth Object Program, who sometimes jokingly call themselves the Solar System Defense Team, have been tracking the asteroid since its discovery in late November.

The scientists, based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, put the chances that it will hit the Red Planet on Jan. 30 at about 1 in 75.

A 1-in-75 shot is "wildly unusual," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near-Earth Object office, which routinely tracks about 5,000 objects in Earth's neighborhood.

"We're used to dealing with odds like one-in-a-million," Chesley said. "Something with a one-in-a-hundred chance makes us sit up straight in our chairs."

The asteroid, designated 2007 WD5, is about 160 feet across, which puts it in the range of the space rock that exploded over Siberia. That explosion, the largest impact event in recent history, felled 80 million trees over an area of 830 square miles.

The Tunguska object broke up before hitting the ground, but the Martian atmosphere is so thin that an asteroid would probably plummet to the surface, digging a crater half a mile wide, Chesley said.

The impact would probably send dust high into the atmosphere, scientists said. Depending on where the asteroid hit, such a plume might be visible through telescopes on Earth, Chesley said.

more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-mars21dec21,0,6729483.story?coll=la-home-center

[Faygo Kid]

1. Cool. The rapidity of astronomical discoveries is astonishing.

That jet from the black hole of one galaxy hitting another has got to be one of the most astounding things any human being has seen in history. And just today, we had the announcement that scientists have found THREE colliding galaxies, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071220195632.htm



And we take it for granted. Geez.

[tridim]

6. It seems like we're entering a golden age of space discovery.

Mars and the orbiting telescopes are paying off big time.

I've been such a space-nerd for the past few years, the images are just too beautiful to ignore.

[onehandle]

2. Sounds like a good time for astronomers to gather data.

I'm hoping for a hit. I've been noticing a particularly bright Mars at night for the last few weeks.

I'll be watching.

[tridim]

4. The satellite pictures will be amazing!

Keeping my fingers crossed that it hits.

[Vanje]

3. First bike racing, then Baseball. Now steroid on Mars!??!!

Just say no to drugs!

[Redneck Socialist]

5. Oh man, that's awful.

Awful funny.


:rofl:

[RL3AO]

7. I'm hoping for it. Of course the Hubble would fail on January 29.

[RL3AO]

8. I haven't seen something this close before on these java maps.

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2007+WD5;orb=1

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Hope someone thinks to point the rover cameras in the right direction on that day.

Even if they're far from the impact site, they could see the trail through the atmosphere.

Just hope associated debris doesn't boink the orbiter. :(

[crikkett]

10. Are the rovers hibernating right now?

I thought it was winter on Mars.