Fri, Jan 04, 2008

NASA Lowers Odds Asteroid Will Hit Mars

... But Not By A Lot

There's been another tweak to the odds an asteroid streaking toward Mars will actually hit the planet.

As ANN reported, asteroid 2007 WD5 was first discovered in November, and drew attention because its orbit passes near Earth. A danger of impact here was ruled out, but odds of hitting Mars on January 30 were put at 1-in-75... then 1-in-25.

Now, the line is 1-in-28. The slight downgrade was made by scientists at NASA Thursday after reviewing new observations from the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in New Mexico.

"We estimate such impacts occur on Mars every thousand years or so," NASA scientist Steve Chesley said last month, reports United Press International.

The last significant meteor impact on Earth is thought to have been a 1908 event, in which an asteroid became super-heated as it entered our atmosphere at Mach 60... disintegrating and creating an explosion near Tunguska, Siberia which leveled trees for 60 miles.

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NASA Lowers Odds Asteroid Will Hit Mars

... But Not By A Lot

FMI: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

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