Saturday, November 21, 2009

Asteroid Hits Earth in 2012?

The premise of the popular 2012 movie is not based on an asteroid striking the earth. But, the movie does touch on the Mayan belief that the world will come to an end due to cataclysmic cosmic events. The movie itself is made up of a bunch of improbable disasters, that are quite physically impossible, in a similiar fashion as events are portrayed in the "The Day After Tomorrow." (Ahh yes, another fine Roland Emmerich flick.)

Could an asteroid take out the planet earth in 2012 instead? That one I will not answer, but there is a really interesting web site provided by NASA that lists Near Earth Objects. The site indicates potential for impact, along with an indicator on how dangerous the objects pose to the earth. The website covers passes by objects with the potential for hitting the earth for about the next hundred years or so. This site does not include yet to be discovered objects, and new ones are occasionally added to the list.

The Near Earth Object site lists 2007 VK184 as the most dangerous known object to the Earth. It is set to pass close by on June 3, 2048. This asteroid has about a 1 in 3400 hundred chance of striking the earth on when it passes by in 2048. This basically means that there is a 99.9% chance that the asteroid will miss us. Whew! By the way, 2007 VK184 is about 130 meters across, so if it does impact the Earth, it could cause significant destruction.

Here the link to the site that lists near earth objects by NASA.

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