Armageddon Sooner than we Thought…
I hope everybody has seen the movie ‘Armageddon’ in which Bruce Willis saves the earth. Now read below the news report from the New Scientist which says that a asteroid called 2006 HZ51 is on the verge of hitting the earth. The earliest date at which it can hit earth is 21 June 2008 out of the 165 probable impact dates. The diameter is of this asteroid is nearly 800kms. And I hope you can all imagine the impact it will have when it is going to hit us. And let us see who will dare to do acts like Bruce Willis to save the planet earth… 
A newly discovered asteroid is now the biggest thing known with a possibility of hitting the Earth in this century – and it is also the one that could hit the soonest.
But the odds of impact currently stand at just one in six million, reducing the fear factor somewhat, and these odds should further diminish with additional observations. This latest addition to NASA-JPL’s list of potentially hazardous asteroids was discovered on 27 April 2006.
The asteroid, called 2006 HZ51, has an estimated diameter of about 800 metres and is the one of the largest objects ever to make the list. An object of that size would cause widespread devastation if it did strike the Earth.
HZ51 also has one of the shortest lead-times to a potential impact of any such object yet found, and the shortest of any potential Earth-impactor currently on the list. The earliest of its 165 possible impact dates is just over two years away, on 21 June 2008.
Hollywood movies
Dan Durda, an asteroid expert and president of the B612 Foundation – which aims to anticipate and prevent such impacts – thinks the discovery of HZ51 highlights that at present there are no good options when faced with so little time to prepare. “There really isn’t a whole lot we could do,” he told New Scientist. “Most of the options that don’t resemble a Hollywood movie involve deflection techniques that require many years or decades.”
Other than stockpiling food and supplies and evacuating the regions most likely to be affected, he said, we would have to “hunker down and take the impact”.
But this is an unusual case, statistically speaking. It is far more likely that Earth’s nations would benefit from a much greater lead time before a potential impact, allowing more time for planning.
For example, the second-most imminent threat now on the list is the asteroid Apophis, which has about a 1-in-6000 chance of hitting Earth in 2036 – plenty of time to prevent it.
Altering orbits
The B612 Foundation has been pushing for a mission to place a tracking device on Apophis sometime in the next decade, so that the possibility of impact can be definitively proved or ruled out. The foundation also wants to send a mission to test ways of altering the orbit of a non-threatening asteroid, to test the viability of such methods.
But the chance of an impact by Apophis might be ruled out as early as this weekend, which will be the last chance until 2013 to observe it by radar, from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.
As for the newfound 2006 HZ51, the orbit calculations so far are based on just over 24 hours of observations, and so are likely to change quickly and should not be seen as a serious concern. As Clark Chapman of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, US, explains: “Almost certainly, observations from one or two more nights will put this to bed as a zero probability.”
Source: New Scientist
Related Good Reads: Space.com’s Article on Asteroid Impact.
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Y is there such a huge probablity in the date of impact?
This reminds me of the series caled Remnants…
a book in which before an doomsday, few ppl are put to hibernation and sent to space, where a huge and ancient ship captures em…
The more time we have it is better. May be scientists will build one massive laser which may burnout the rock in the space itself. Hope so all this things happen soon….
It is better we humans die like the Dinosaurs. It’s time for the next intelligent species to rule Earth!
John: You are very bold…..
I have been warning people of the end of the human race for years
Well atleast I believe that humans won’t survive much on Earth for long. We either have to live on space or find some other planet like Earth.
hehe.. I just love talking about space
May be humans will become like the xmen’s due the mutations which will occur after the asteroid hits the earth….
Even I love space…
hmmm… nice one… i love topics like these.. talking about doom’s day.. armageddon and stuff like that! Actually speaking, i’m pretty afraid of the doom’s day! God knows what will happen. I feel the NASA people are predicting an impact sooner or later… they even did a test on space, trying to deflect an asteroid (a small one) with a mere impact of a satellite! keep trying NASA, but the doom’s day will come!!!
waiting for it!
Nah, IMO an explosive wud be more effective in stopping it, rather than a laser. It can shatter it to bits in seconds whereas a laser takes a very long time to burn things, especially a rock. But then we cant nuke it either… better to survive the impact like we have always done, our now-useless race.
hehe mutation is still imaginative, we can evolve tho…
hey john, am free today, lets start your wish of eradication with the thinker’s sacrifice–= You!
OMG! John is using Firefox! It shall rain in india today!
I believe John was a firefox fan….
I am no FireFox fan. I started using FireFox again when I used Stumble Upon. Now I still use it.
And yes, more than Opera now
Hehe, back to opera then john? … nice plugin
Lemme try linux next time
I just love talking about such theories . Lets hope we get attacked by aliens just like DOOM 3 . That would be something very much interesting and awesome .
I am an Alien myself, well…partly
Half Human…Half Alien
I come here to study about Human Race.
I shall go back to my Home Planet in 2029. The year when 2 huge Meteorites will hit Earth and destroy the human race
But don’t worry, i will take my friends with me. So if you wanna live, be my friend
Hey John I am your friend so take me along with you you….
And am the meteorite, so I’ll keep a lookout for your escape, thanks for revealing the plot
Whee! Fedora Linux
Qwerty Maniac is Running right now… Fedora Linux… Congrats Man….
Hehe
test for what?
coComment?
We will destroy the Meteorite with our powerful Weapon from the SpaceShip.
My Alen Race wants to learn all about Blogging
So I will take Shiva with me
Escape pods dont have weapons powerful enough to destroy a meteor with the potential to destroy earth it self…
Prepare for the inevitable!
In that case I will summon Bruce Willis…
Lol, his acting is always with a tired look, just saw Frank Miller’s Sin City again .
is that really true about that metorite
I WAS NOT SMILING WHEN I HEARD THAT
should i not bother paying my council tax. seems a waste if we are all goona die. might use the money to get ratarsed