Mark your calendar for Sunday, April 13, 2036. That's when a 1,000-foot-wide asteroid named Apophis could hit the Earth with enough force to obliterate a small state.The odds of a collision are 1-in-6,250. But while that's a long shot at the racetrack, the stakes are too high for astronomers to ignore.For now, Apophis represents the most imminent threat from the worst type of natural disaster known, one reason NASA is spending millions to detect the threat from this and other asteroids.A direct hit on an urban area could unleash more destruction than Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake combined. The blast would equal 880 million tons of TNT or 65,000 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.Objects this size are thought to hit Earth about once every 1,000 years, and, according to recent estimates, the risk of dying from a renegade space rock is comparable to the hazards posed by tornadoes and snakebites. Those kind of statistics have moved the once-far-fetched topic of killer asteroids from Hollywood movie sets to the halls of Congress."Certainly we had a major credibility problem at the beginning - a giggle factor," said David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

"Now, many people are aware this is something we can actually deal with, mitigate and defend against."In 1998, lawmakers formally directed NASA to identify by 2008 at least 90 percent of the asteroids more than a kilometer (0.6 mile) wide that orbit the sun and periodically cross Earth's path. That search is now more than three-quarters complete.Last year, Congress directed the space agency to come up with options for deflecting potential threats. Ideas seriously discussed include lasers on the moon, futuristic "gravity tractors," spacecraft that ram incoming objects and Hollywood's old standby, nuclear weapons.To help explore possible alternatives, former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart has formed the B612 Foundation. The organization's goal is to be able to significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015.

View: Full Article | Source: Bradenton Herald

Better send Bruce willis and his trustie crew of oil diggers!!

xD least they should do a better job than last time

...this is gonna suck

There is still time left

2036 yikes, I'll be turning 53, ouch. I had planned on living a little longer than that...

There are 2 things that I'm thinking of.

1. We'll probably going to live on the moon by then.

2. The moon would be in the way. But hat would be verrry unlikely.



And besides, at least it's not big enough to destory the entire planet.

It is highly unlikely that there will be a large population on the moon by 2036.

It might not be big enough to destroy the planet but it is big enough to be the biggest disaster (excluding pandemics) in human history. If it were to hit a densly populated part of the world it would kill millions or tens of millions.

The orbit of Apophis has been refined as a result of redar measurements. The chances of a collision in 2036 now stand at 1 in 24,000, and this is expected to improve with further measurements.

Source: MSNBC

Let's just hope the percentages continue to over time, a massive collision is the last thing the world needs at this point in time.

I don't think it needs a massive collision at any time. One day one of these things will be on a collision course with the Earth. We should be learning all we can about asteroids and comets and developing the technology to deflect them.

Considering the relative size and distance of the moon, like you said, very unlikely.

1 in 24,000- Not great odds.

A lot better than 1 in 6250. It is likely to get better as the orbit is further refined with more observations.

Not to worry! The U.S.A. has Secret Weapons of Mass Destruction and with the Reversed Alien Technology will save the World and Mankind as we Know it!
Or not as the case may be. By 2036 I intend to be nothing but a pleasant memory in any case!

Most likely the asteroid will miss...

Agreed, its not a question of if something is going to hit, its a question of when.

I see the angle this is coming from, but the report mentions that Earth is hit every 1000 years by an object this size.

We have pretty good records from 1000ad onwards, so where is the evidence that this has happened every thousand years?

Not saying it hasn't, but would like direction to check the claim out.

Any ideas?

Dang, that thing could ruin my birthday (April 13th), now how did they pick THAT date ?

Firstly this figure is a statistical average. Earth could go five thousand years without such an impact and then have 5 in a decade, so there is no guarantee that an object this size has hit the Earth since 1000 AD.

Secondly planet Earth is just over 70% ocean, so on average only 3 such objects will hit land in a 10,000 year period.

No one picked that date, the asteroid picked that date.

I shouldn't worry too much about your birthday, the chances of Apophis hitting the Earth now stand at only 1:38,000

Source: NASA/JPL - NEO Project- Apophis