A new kid in the neighbourhood

mrG — Thu, 19 May 2005 16:16:27 -0400

A new kid in the neighbourhood, 2004 MN4.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Like a rock is going to smite us? Just like last time?" but this one, this one is a fer-sure maybe kinda 1-in-10,000 sort of whacker that could pretty much ruin the day of everyone on the pacific rim:

In December, preliminary observations showed it might strike in 2029, according to NASA scientists. It briefly had the highest odds ever assigned to a possible collision. Further investigation ruled out the 2029 impact scenario, but scientists cannot yet rule out an impact in 2036.
Astronaut Asks Congress to Investigate Threatening Asteroid

That's April 13th, 2036 if you'd like to put it in your daytimer. I'll have to get back to you on the time.

But it's like Leadbelly said about Cocaine, "Doctors say it kills ya, but they don't say when."

Stop worrying; love the rock

mrG — Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:27:35 -0400

By now you've probably heard the news on NT7, the infamous asteroid that may hit Earth just shy of Groundhog Day 2019. So what's the real story on NT7? Basically, it's just another celestial mountain in a chaotic clockwork dance with our fair planet. Can we do anything about it? You bet we can...

Learn to play the banjo. Take peppermint Rye-Kee Shee-At-Zoo relaxation therapy and oodles of Ag-nasial I&I-drop suppliments, eat no kind of frozen portion, and floss. Good planets are real hard to find, so enjoy the one you got while it's here. Call your ma. Do an anonymous kindness for your better half, another for a total stranger. Having all the best toys is useless when they all spontaneously combust from a global Wormwood shockwave. You should be diggin' it while it's happenin'

One thing you will just have to get used to is hearing news of a possible collision; we have only started funding the projects to look for these things since Hollywood took an interest with Armageddon, and we have only just recently turned on a bunch of new toys to do automated sky surveys. There are also some new (and very clever) amateur projects co-ordinating multiple telescopes to detect these criters, one of which plans to network dozens of ground based machines around the world. You may remember a few years back the 2028 doomsday story -- consider them good ghost stories, then go back to work.

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A new kid in the neighbourhood

Stop worrying; love the rock