[cumulusgranite]

I thought this would be an interesting post.

It has no effect on us, but may, on your children's kids.

It is asteroid (1999 RQ36 ) that may cross our orbit, unfortunately at the same time, we are there at the same point in space.

One link to the story (1999 RQ36)

This is a long way off and many parameters can and will change in the interim. The probability it will miss us perhaps may increase, or unfortunately they may decrease.

I guess my personal scientific point of view is that it is a game of probabilities, that may or may not go in our favour.

However, from a philosophical point of view, we will eventually have a confrontation with such a problem.
I hope when that time comes we are far beyond the religious, race and idealogical philosophical realms we live in now. If not we will be in big trouble......



1999 RQ36 for the techies;

V_impact 12.86 km/s
Mass 1.4e+11 kg
Energy 2.7e+03 MT (MT being Mega Tons TNT)
Impact Probability (cumulative) 7.1e-04 (at this point in time)

[Relliott]

Thanks Ron, hope to be around to see it

[cumulusgranite]

Relliott, on 29 July 2010 - 08:58 PM, said:

Thanks Ron, hope to be around to see it

LOL, I have mixed feelings. Not sure it I would want to be around or not.

However, there is another (2004 MN₄) that will make the news in our life time (at least hopefully in our life time)

I didn't mean to get sappy in the last part of my post.

It's just I wish we could take all the money we waste on things like religious wars and such and put it into medical research such as cancer, Alzheimer, MS, and other things like funding to find asteroids so they will not sneak up on us.

I think we owe it to our kids, and their kids................