17 Years till doom!--Apparently

Asteroid to hit the Earth !

LONDON (Reuters) - A massive asteroid could hit Earth in just 17 years' time, destroying life as we know it, a space expert says.


The asteroid -- the most threatening object ever detected in space -- is two km (1.2 miles) wide and apparently on a direct collision course with Earth.


"Objects of this size only hit the Earth every one or two million years," said Dr Benny Peiser, an asteroid expert at Liverpool John Moore's University in northern England.


"In the worst case scenario, a disaster of this size would be global in its extent, would create a meltdown of our economic and social life, and would reduce us to dark age conditions," he told Reuters.


But Peiser and other space experts say they are pretty confident this nightmare scenario will not come about.


"This thing is the highest threat that has been catalogued, but the scale in terms of the threat keeps changing," said Peter Bond, spokesman for the Royal Astronomical Society.


"If it did hit the Earth it would cause a continental-size explosion...but it is a fairly remote possibility."


The asteroid -- named 2002 NT7 -- was first detected earlier this month by the United States Linear sky survey programme.


Since then, Peiser said scientists at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) near-Earth objects team and at Pisa University in Italy have carried out orbit calculations to work out the probability and potential date of impact to define the risk it poses.


Their calculations show it could hit the earth on February 1, 2019.


"The impact probability is below one in a million, but because the first impact date is so early -- only 17 years from now -- and the object is very large, it's been rated on the impact risk Palermo Scale as a positive," Peiser said. "It is the first object which has ever hit a positive rating."


Scientists warn, however, that the risk rating has not been reviewed by the International Astronomical Union, which is the main international body responsible for announcing such risks.


Peiser said 2002 NT7 would continue to be monitored by space experts across the world, and that over time, these observations would probably erase the threat posed by it.


"In all likelihood, in a couple of months additional observations will eliminate this object from the list of potential impacts," he said. "I am very confident that additional observations over time will...show that it is actually not on a collision course with Earth."


But he warned that the world should take this as wake-up call and set about preparing for the reality of an asteroid hit in the future.


"Sooner or later -- and no one can really tell us which it will be -- we will find an object that is on a collision course. That is as certain as "Amen" in church. And eventually we will have to deflect an object from its collision course," he said.


At the moment, he added, scientists fear it could take at least 30 years for the world to be able to devise and set up a mission to deal with such a threat -- a timescale which would be woefully inadequate if the 2019 strike were to happen.


Please share your thoughts, I personally think that its nothing to worry about.

They've been saying that for years. *yawn* Dont worry bout it. Even if i would happen Im sure by the time we were to be hit we could destroy it or knock it off course.

I have heard of this off a small note on the Today Show. I heard it was suposibly to hit on Febuary 2 instead of the 1st. Oh well. Not much of a difference though.

Just seems every thing is happening in our lifetime. September 11, stock market crashes/corporate break downs, meteor and comet threats... *sigh* Here's something I found on a threatning super nova. Click Here For Story.

NASA now say it won't hit the earth in 2019 after all. They do say, however, that (quote) "We cannot yet completely rule out an impact possibility on February 1, 2060."

I found this article in the August edition of 'Astronomy Now' magazine.

It refers to another 'near miss' by an asteroid.

Apparently, the thing was detected on June 17th by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research project, near Socorro, New Mexico. The object is referred to as 2002MN and is/was the size of a football pitch, aprox 120 metres across. The frightening thing is, it was only detected THREE DAYS AFTER IT HAD FLOWN PAST THE EARTH.

They say it wasn't seen because it approached the earth on the sunward side and they only detected it after it became visible in the night sky.

They claim it's the biggest object to cross the moon's orbit. As yet, they say they have been unable to predict any possible impact dates.

We are threatend by asteroids all the time. They are just not revealed for the reason at which they are taken care of. Milions of dollars a year disappear in a small fund foot-noted as "space protection". It is supposed to continue the famous "star wars" program. With the technology developed, they can always blact is out of our space orbit. But if it gets to close, they cannot. For the reason of breakage. If they hit it close to Earth, it will break into little mini asteroids, and Earth will be under an impactive meteor shower.

Still, a swag of smaller impacts is a lot better for everyone than a single big one.

Unless of course you live where its going to hit, then it wont matter much to you either way.

It will defnetly going to give some nice firework to my birthdayparty then...

meh, just fit some OHIO or TYPHOON sub's to go to space and we are ok...
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The asteroid has been known about for three years all ready. A polish physicist discovered this and then he was hired by NASA. It was on a supposed direct collision course three years ago and it is now. I can't believe that they're claiming to have discovered this only this month. I bet that people knew about the football-field sized asteroid for a really long time before the near miss.

But if an asteroid was for sure going to hit in 17 years, would you want to know?

I recently read somewhere that 2 probes are to be launched in 2003 for the purpose of re-aligning an asteroid and recording the event and its new trajectory.
Has anyone else heard about this project?
I lost the info & link and would appreciate a posting if anyone else has come across it.

Yeah i heard about the probes. But I also heard that the asteroid will be here in 5 to 10 years and will be the size of rhode island in the united states.

Here's all about it:

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

Nasa says it's a risk, but not a very big one.

this asteriod is old and like most asteriod it is suspected that its course will change

Anyway, we can nuke an asteroid, isn' it ? Isn't it ??? C'mon, don't kidding !!!

I'm sure we can do it ! We'll nuke it.

Pleeeeeease, tell me that we can do it...