Simon Bradshaw (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
major_clanger) wrote2007-12-31 09:43 am
major_clanger) wrote2007-12-31 09:43 am
A Mars-Shattering (or at least denting) Kaboom?
You might have seen the news story a couple of weeks ago about the asteroid with a 1 in 300 chance of hitting Mars at the end of January, or the follow-up that further observations had lowered the odds to around 1 in 75.
Well, a postdoc in Alaska has trawled through sky survey images to find more tracking data for 2007 WD5, and the whacks-into-Mars odds are now 1 in 25. The chances are still that this will be a near miss, but if I was Marvin the Martian I'd be firing up the old Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator just in case.
Well, a postdoc in Alaska has trawled through sky survey images to find more tracking data for 2007 WD5, and the whacks-into-Mars odds are now 1 in 25. The chances are still that this will be a near miss, but if I was Marvin the Martian I'd be firing up the old Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator just in case.