Sunday, October 20, 2013
Guys, this giant asteroid really may smash into Earth (well, maybe)
It's so cool how NASA tells us about giant asteroids that could've hit the Earth after they've safely drifted past us, like an intergalactic version of "Nothing to see here, folks." But the agency has said that when asteroid 2013 TV135 swings back through our neighborhood in 2032, there's a chance it'll actually smack into us. It's not a GOOD chance — the current odds are 1 in 63,000 — but astronomers are still keeping their eyes on it. "That puts the current probability of no impact … at about 99.998 percent," says Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office on its website.
2013 TV135 is roughly a quarter mile long and was detected by the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Ukraine. If you do want something to freak out about, astronomer Phil Plait happily points out on Slate.com that we've only detected around 1 percent of the dangerous, potentially Earth-affecting asteroids in space. Sleep tight. [Source] [Source]
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Author: now.msn.com
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