Mars could be in for an asteroid hit. A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1-in-75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday. "These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to the Tunguska object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb that wiped out 60 million trees. Scientists tracking the asteroid, which is halfway to Mars, initially put the odds of impact at 1 in 350 and increased the chances this week after analyzing the data.

Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations of the asteroid's orbit, Chesley said. "We know that it's going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there's a possibility of an impact," he said.

View: Full Article | Source: MSNBC

If it did hit, we could get a chance to see how large an impact Earth can take if something similiar happens to us. We can see how the aftermath envelops Mars and see how long we may have to survive by such an impact.

My sister jsut called me and told me that she heard this on the phone. This saves me having to go look it up.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if after all of the graphic simulations we have been subjected to, this asteroid hit Mars and all we saw was a small dust plume which settled down withing a few days!!

i wish i had a telescope

i,m no scienticts, but i can tell you an asteroid will hit mars, and earth and any other planets, it is just matter of time.

Yes, there are millions (if not more) of them flying around out there, it is just a matter of time.

But, this would still be very interesting as well as informative to watch.

Check it out http://szyzyg.arm.ac.uk/~spm/neo_map.html

And it might. Mars doesn't have the atmosphere we do. we could learn things from it but it still wouldn't be the same. how long does a mars dust storm last ? that blankets great area's of the planet.

They can last for months and blanket the entire planet dude.
It will be interesting to see what happens if it does hit, especially with the two Rovers already on the planet and the satellites we have orbiting it. It would certainly be more spectacular than the Schumaker-Levy impact on Jupiter a few years ago.