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Asteroid makes close pass
Topic Started: Jan 9 2013, 09:29 PM (229 Views)
CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20961003

A 300m diameter asteroid named Apophis is making a close approach to the Earth, according to this BBC article. In fact, it's not that close: it's about 14 million km away.

If the name Apophis sounds familiar to you, that's probably because this same near-Earth asteroid made the news a few years ago when scientists gave it a 1 in 45 chance of colliding with the Earth in 2029. That's now been ruled out, although it is still expected to come within 30,000km of the Earth (as in, actually a close approach), and there is also a 1 in 200,000 chance of it colliding with the Earth in 2036.

Until then, it's 14 million km away, so nothing to get excited about - but hopefully it's close enough for astronomers to study its orbit and improve their calculations.
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Michelle
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I heard about this on TV... they're going to find a way so that it doesn't hit Earth.
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CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

Surely it's just a case of knocking it off course?
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Michelle
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Yeah. It will then slow down and barely miss Earth.
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CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

Although, even now, there's only a 1 in 200,000 chance of it hitting, so let's hope nothing will be necessary.
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Michelle
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I sure hope so. I hate for something to happen.
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CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

Fortunately, that 1 in 200,000 chance of it hitting in 2036 has now been ruled out :) .
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