Doomsday Apophis asteroid? Could the Earth be on a collision course?
Something to look forward to? (NASA illustration)
A new report from Russia seems to indicate that the Mayans were off by just 24 years. According to Russian scientists, in the year 2036, the Apophis asteroid and the Earth may have a date to meet.
The report came from UPI, saying that Leonid Sokolov of St. Petersburg State University estimated the asteroid will hit the planet on April 13, 2036. The asteroid has made headlines before as scientists have been keeping a wary eye on the rock two football fields in size hurtling through space since its discovery in 2004.
But, much like the Zodiac panic of 2011, the asteroid news may be creating a ruckus for nothing. NASA says the likelihood of a collision is only 1-in-250,000.
Still, even that slim of a chance could be slightly disconcerting seeing that the pesky asteroid that hit the Earth 250 million years ago was likely the cause of 90 percent of life on the planet dying off (also, as a worrywart points out to me, those are better odds than winning the lottery).
For you worrywarts, don't fret. NASA is hard at work figuring out ways to break apart the asteroid in case it comes too close. It's only slightly disconcerting that their number one plan is based on Bruce Willis's "Armageddon":
By
Melissa Bell
| February 9, 2011; 1:52 PM ET
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NASA says there's a 1/250,000 chance that all life as we know it could be vaporized? There's less of a chance that a terrorist will get on a plane and yet our government invests billions to prevent that that rare occurrence. Maybe we should reconsider our priorities.
Posted by: zrzzzz | February 9, 2011 7:29 PM | Report abuse
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