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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Asteroid Impact in 2014 Ruled Out
2003-09-04
EFL/FU:
Never mind.
Newly discovered asteroid 2003 QQ47 has received considerable media attention over the last few days because it had a small chance of colliding with the Earth in the year 2014 and was rated a "1" on the Torino impact hazard scale, which goes from 0 to 10. The odds of collision in 2014, as estimated by JPL’s Sentry impact monitoring system, peaked at 1 chance in 250,000, a result which was posted on our Impact Risk Page on Saturday, August 30. Impact events at the Torino Scale 1 level certainly merit careful monitoring by astronomers, but these events do not warrant public concern. In fact, each year several newly discovered asteroids reach Torino Scale 1 for a brief period after discovery; 2003 QQ47 is the fourth such case this year. As astronomers continue to monitor an asteroid and measure its position, more precise predictions can be made. On September 2, new measurements of QQ47’s position allowed us to narrow our prediction of its path in 2014, and thus we could rule out any Earth impact possibilities for 2014.
You can cancel your impact party.
In our Impact Risk Page for 2003 QQ47, the entry for the year 2014 has now disappeared, although a number of potential impact events remain for later years. We expect that these too will be ruled out in the coming days as astronomers continue to track the object and we refine our orbit predictions.
It’s the one they don’t see coming that’ll get us.
Posted by:Steve

#14  Oh, hell. I gotta sober up now?
Posted by: tu3031   2003-9-4 11:14:09 PM  

#13  start an all-out war against anybody who has ever said anything bad about the U.S. (starting with Canada).

Thank God I have Rantburg to warn me about these things!
Posted by: Rafael   2003-9-4 8:42:12 PM  

#12  Not to forget the Murky Troid, who "is by far Throsby Creek's longest and most famous resident. Murky remembers how he and his friends would play amongst the mangroves and then frolic with the sharks in Throsby Creek. But the creek became polluted they had nowhere to play. :(
Even murkier is of course troid.org where murky islamic sheiks come out to play...
Posted by: True German Ally   2003-9-4 8:28:25 PM  

#11  Frank Martin---it is just one of the many 'roids we have to deal with in our lives: hem-, thy-, aster-, pola-, ster-, and-
LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-9-4 7:23:12 PM  

#10  asteroid? whew! I thought they said hemmoroid.....
Posted by: Frank Martin   2003-9-4 6:02:01 PM  

#9  "I say we start a HUGE party about Summer 2013 and just keep it going until the big day. About a month prior we all sober up and start an all-out war against anybody who has ever said anything bad about the U.S. (starting with Canada). About a week prior we should launch a premptive nuclear strike on France, Germany, Syria, and the PRC.

Ok CyberSarge, hand me your stripes NOW, you have been condemned to 10 years of cleaning French showers.

Oh wait....
Posted by: True German Ally   2003-9-4 5:57:28 PM  

#8  Hey, I never said anything like that! Besides, if that happened, how would I keep supplied with German mustard for my bratwurst?
Posted by: Old Patriot   2003-9-4 2:40:47 PM  

#7  Will the guy who wanted to nuke Germany yesterday please stand up NOW?
Posted by: True German Ally   2003-9-4 2:18:21 PM  

#6  I was going to cry alot this weekend in my mountain redoubt, but since the crisis is past, I guess that I will finish up these water and sewer studies that go to year 2023. Now that they are relevant and all again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-9-4 2:01:10 PM  

#5  "What a bummer. I cashed out of Blue Cap stocks and had everything in liquid oxygen storage and Tang futures. Guess I'm good for breakfast drink though."

OK, you got the breakfast drink angle covered, but what are you going to do with the tang?
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2003-9-4 1:16:10 PM  

#4  SH - that's nothing. I had my ex-wife's head removed and frozen like Ted Williams..and she wasn't even dead yet. If I don't post here for a while, well....
Posted by: Frank G   2003-9-4 1:05:48 PM  

#3  What a bummer. I cashed out of Blue Cap stocks and had everything in liquid oxygen storage and Tang futures. Guess I'm good for breakfast drink though.
Posted by: Super Hose   2003-9-4 12:35:46 PM  

#2  I guess I can unpack now...

at least until Scary Death Asteroid™ (ver 2.1) makes the news
Posted by: Frank G   2003-9-4 10:17:26 AM  

#1  I guess I can unpack now...
Posted by: Fred   2003-9-4 10:05:41 AM  

00:00