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See the original image at ctv.ca

Scientists say asteroid may hit Mars

ctv.ca — Mars could be in for an asteroid hit. A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30.

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  • MikeonTV, on 12/21/2007, -7/+57Too bad it's not heading for Pluto. Stupid dwarf planet!
    • chewbacca77, on 12/21/2007, -4/+34I happen to LIKE Pluto.
    • Swallowell, on 12/21/2007, -8/+19Too bad it's not heading for Earth. You foolish earthlings!
    • vortexgenerator, on 12/21/2007, -3/+7What do you have against Pluto?
      • edicius, on 12/21/2007, -8/+2DEEZ NUTZ!!!!!1one!!!!1lol!!!two!!

        sorry, just had to.
      • thefinger, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3Yeah. Pluto was a miserable disappointment in the end. For decades, it paraded itself as a planet...... a ***** piece of icy rock... or rocky ice.... putting on those kinds of pretensions.... That kind of deception DESERVES punishment.
    • allahuakbar, on 12/21/2007, -6/+3http://www.digg.com/2008_us_elections/Astronomers_ ...
    • rmeddy, on 12/22/2007, -0/+5Yeah ***** You Pluto.
    • GoatRoper, on 12/22/2007, -0/+5I believe it prefers to be called a "Midget Planet" these days
      • KamikazeeDriver, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2nah, that's more demeaning.

        Besides, whoever heard of midget tossing. Dwarf tossing is where it's at
  • Proctor, on 12/21/2007, -2/+44Ill have my telescope and watch the dust plume, LIVE. If it hits. Will be a once in a lifetime amazing sight.
    • diggydougie, on 12/21/2007, -1/+16Not if you count the shoemaker levy impact. That makes two in my lifetime. Still awesome though.
    • allahuakbar, on 12/21/2007, -9/+4http://www.digg.com/2008_us_elections/Astronomers_ ...
    • davidrools, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1how long is a martian day relative to earth's? it'll be hard to see if the impact is on the other side of the planet.
      • jonjo, on 12/22/2007, -0/+9pretty hard to see? erm.. not if you've got a telescope that can see round corners
      • RoboRay, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1While the length of the day isn't really relevant (it doesn't matter how long the day is, you've still got an even chance that the impact will be on the far side), Mars' day is about 40 minutes longer than ours.
    • ChileanGoD, on 12/22/2007, -0/+5*grabs pop-corn*
    • chingy1788, on 12/22/2007, -0/+9its not live its been delayed by at least 3 minutes, and up to 21 minutes
      • GoatRoper, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Smartass, but funny
      • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -0/+2That gives the FCC enough time to censor out any objectionable content.
  • Maddoktor2, on 12/21/2007, -1/+3Yes, Rico - kaboom.
  • MrTwix, on 12/21/2007, -0/+32At least those robots will have something to take photos of.
  • laika333, on 12/21/2007, -7/+70The strike would actually happen about 11 minutes before you could see it from earth.
    Because of the speed of light and all.
    /nerd
    • JacobParker, on 12/21/2007, -1/+28you would be looking back in time!
    • sensor, on 12/21/2007, -6/+5ORLY
    • Ksg89, on 12/21/2007, -5/+3111 minutes? lot less than that, see the sun 8 minutes late
      • Wolfwoodxlv, on 12/21/2007, -3/+4I'm going to venture a guess around 4 minutes, since Mars is about half the distance from us that the sun is....
      • santaliqueur, on 12/21/2007, -1/+28Not necessarily, the distance from Earth to Mars varies wildly, from 35 million to 250 million miles. The Sun is always ~93 million, give or take a few million.
      • mthole, on 12/21/2007, -1/+8A few days ago was the closest Earth Mars would be for the next several years, so I'm going to guess the lightspeed-delay would be considerably less than 11 minutes.
      • Wolfwoodxlv, on 12/21/2007, -0/+5Santaliqueur and mthole.. you are both correct - I believe it is somewhere between 25-40 million miles right now.. which is actually even less than half the distance of the sun to earth... so I'd even go with 3.5 minutes
    • dartmanx, on 12/22/2007, -0/+6Stupid speed of light!
    • Ransak, on 12/22/2007, -2/+1That's all relative.

      Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.
      • xNaquada, on 12/23/2007, -0/+1Just like the inlaws....
      • Ransak, on 12/25/2007, -0/+1Funny. Someone actually dugg me down for that.

        If the jokes over your head, you probably shouldn't be allowed to vote.
  • Skorme, on 12/21/2007, -21/+12Too bad it's not hitting Earth so we can say global warming did it.
    Then rub our nipples in rejoice.
    • JacobParker, on 12/21/2007, -1/+5lol, if it hit the Earth, (dead) scientists couldn't say global warming destroyed the planet
  • DeskFlyer, on 12/21/2007, -1/+12Someone alert the worms!
  • WoWBits, on 12/21/2007, -2/+68I hope the property I bought up there on eBay is ok.
    • Christbait, on 12/21/2007, -0/+7I hope you have your PP buyer protection in check.
    • Cl1mh4224rd, on 12/22/2007, -0/+4> "I hope the property I bought up there on eBay is ok."

      Step 2 of my eBay scam is going wonderfully...
    • IEatHamburgers, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1Are you kidding me? You'd be ***** rich if it hit! Do you know how many rare materials are in those things? There's a reason that South Africa has a relatively respectable economy - the world's largest crater impact is there, rich with precious metals. The second largest is right underneath Sudbury, Ontario, and that's the reason why in the 1930's it was a primary target in America's "War Plan Red" for the invasion of Canada.
  • SquidLips, on 12/21/2007, -0/+6Actually this could result in some really good science because spectra of the flash and aftermath might be possible.
  • Alix7, on 12/21/2007, -3/+61Terraform the ***** out of mars Mr. Asteroid!
    • falkonv7l, on 12/21/2007, -6/+2Mars does not have the gravity or right level of temperature to sustain a suitable atmosphere.
      • CATSCEO, on 12/21/2007, -4/+1And no magnetic field, or a moon*.

        *Phoebes and Demoes don't count, they are astroids.
        • kooft, on 12/21/2007, -0/+2asteroids...
          • LeeSoong, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1He was insulting Phoebes and Demoes, because they can't play in the
            National Baseball League since they tested positive...

            Such a scandal !
        • subxero37, on 12/21/2007, -1/+4Phobos and Deimos are moons. They just share many characteristics with asteroids.
      • RoboRay, on 12/22/2007, -0/+5Actually, the gravity is fine, and the temperature only needs to be raised a few degrees to permit a much thicker, sustainable atmosphere. Mars would be pretty simple to terraform. We could actually do it with current technology in a few hundred years.
        • Culero, on 12/22/2007, -1/+5we could take all our hummers up there and just drive around. That'll warm things up a bit.
        • Dugg2Death, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1You still have the problem of no magnetic field.
        • Woaz, on 12/24/2007, -0/+1Assuming the asteroid does hit Mars, it could take us only a few decades.
    • dartmanx, on 12/22/2007, -3/+2Even if we could terraform Mars, the UN and environmentalists would screw it up.
  • cerberes, on 12/21/2007, -3/+12BAhhh, they're all wrong... its just the Martians trying to get back home.
  • ArvickHero, on 12/21/2007, -0/+6Better start investing in that asteroid-repelling technology
    • mthole, on 12/21/2007, -0/+6Seriously... 1/75 chance with only ~40 days warning. Yikes.
    • hplasm, on 12/22/2007, -0/+4First Jupiter, now Mars- if this happens, maybe some of that "Anti-Terrah" money can be directed to Spaceguard; where the REAL terror from the skies is watched for.
  • jmaxwell, on 12/21/2007, -1/+16thats it, we need to strike back at klendathu
    • Lososaurus, on 12/21/2007, -0/+7Soldiers are calling it "Big-K", it's an ugly planet, it's a bug planet, it's a plane- *gets mauled by bug warrior*
    • KamikazeeDriver, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Klendathu is far overdue. I for one am sick of this relocation ***** because a bunch of bugs wanna throw stones at us.
      NUKE 'EM
  • zephyr42, on 12/21/2007, -3/+3noooo.... not my future home!!
  • UrlorJkron, on 12/21/2007, -6/+9Just in time for Vista's first anniversary.
  • diggydougie, on 12/21/2007, -0/+10Will it hit on the side that we can see at that moment? Bummer if it hits on the "night" side and all we get to see is a new crater. The astronomers would be all atwitter over the new crater anyway.
  • Jalh, on 12/21/2007, -3/+1poor aliens ! :(
  • fakekevinrose, on 12/21/2007, -0/+21i hope it doesnt hit the NASA rovers
    • lust, on 12/21/2007, -11/+1I hope it does....Waste the mother *****
    • ryodoan, on 12/22/2007, -0/+27But you have to admit that final footage would be kickass
    • fluxion, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1nothing can defeat the rovers!
  • NonLeftistDiggr, on 12/21/2007, -12/+3Here's how this works, if a science article makes it up to the digg general front page, the "science" is usually horse *****. So let's hope this is the case.
    • iticu, on 12/21/2007, -0/+7Why do you care if Mars gets hit by a asteroid?
      • NonLeftistDiggr, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Because I paid for 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of the rover up there.
  • DarkReign16, on 12/21/2007, -0/+20I hope the rovers catch it all on camera. So we could study more in depth the effects of an asteroid impact.
  • ShihJhit, on 12/21/2007, -0/+22"which is halfway to Mars" half way from where?!
    • Christbait, on 12/21/2007, -0/+2Halfway from the initial point that they began recording it's movement?
  • MuletTheGreat, on 12/21/2007, -1/+7What if the asteroid in question was carrying a massive payload of frozen gases or Water? It could thicken the atmosphere slightly. Get this to happen dozens of times and it could be an interesting form of terraforming...
    Im not gonna argue how the hell you would do that. But its an interesting idea eh?
    • falkonv7l, on 12/21/2007, -7/+1Mars does not have the gravity or right level of temperature to sustain a suitable atmosphere.
      • CATSCEO, on 12/21/2007, -4/+1And no magnetic field, or a moon*.

        *Phoebes and Demoes don't count, they are astroids.
        • kooft, on 12/21/2007, -0/+3asteroids...
          • Cl1mh4224rd, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3Wtf? *scrolls up*

            I know I wasn't going crazy...
        • falkonv7l, on 12/21/2007, -0/+2Agreed, the lack of a magnetic field is a crucial.

          Depends on what you are using as a definition as a "moon" but I know Phobos and Deimos to be Mars' moons. IDK what PhoebEs & DemoEs are.
    • iDiggIt42, on 12/22/2007, -1/+4Actually, an atmosphere is not sustainable due to the lack of a magnetic field -- the temperature has nothing to do with it, really. As Mars' core has cooled off to the point where it is no longer producing a magnetic field, the (former) atmosphere was unprotected from the solar wind, so the radiation from the Sun sort of just sandpapered most of it off over millions of years.
  • mswope, on 12/21/2007, -0/+21On the other hand, there's a 74 out of 75 chance that it won't hit Mars...
    • jonjo, on 12/22/2007, -0/+21you're a "glass is 74/75ths empty" kinda guy aren't yer
    • michaelaranda, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1I don't really understand the odds thing. I mean, it's either going to hit or it's not, right? Where does the aspect of chance come in?
      • docbob84, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1The probability comes in the prediction. As the time to possible impact gets closer, the probability increases or decreases as "we" understand the trajectory better. It's a lot like predicting the weather actually; the forecast for tomorrow is more accurate than the forecast for next week. For the calculus inclined, as time to impact approaches zero, probability approaches either zero or one. If it converges on one, we have an impact; if not, it misses and millions of astronomers are highly disappointed.
  • rebotfc, on 12/21/2007, -0/+20Is anyone else concerned that they could only give a month notice for this, if the asteroid was to hit earth instead of mars could we only get 40 days warning?
    • darlyn, on 12/22/2007, -0/+4*dun dun dun* Good point, though.
    • KamikazeeDriver, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Who doesn't know this?

      It's (as I understood) common knowledge that there are far too many asteroids for us to keep track of. As many as we identify every year, we're barely licking the icing off the cake.

      For now, it's one of those issues that everyone just hopes it won't happen, or just not decided to care because if it's gonna happen, no amount of warning will protect us from it. Armageddon was fiction. We can't stop it. So we just live life.
    • sshofkom, on 12/22/2007, -1/+0A month, a year, we would still be pwned.
      • docbob84, on 12/22/2007, -0/+0Nah. For a six-miler like the one 65 MYA yeah, we'd be screwed with our present technology. But one like this (it said comparable to the one that made Meteor Crater, so it's something like 100-800 meters across) we'd have a decent chance of deflecting its orbit. That's given a year, though; with only a month, again people in the region of the impact would be screwed. So yeah, it could be useful to find some of these things ahead of time.
    • yawnstretch, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1One would hope that they're tracking asteroids that are directed more towards us but considering that all the planets are spiralling around the sun I suppose its just as likely they'd spot this as soon as theyd spot any asteroid coming this general direction. Not good
  • allahuakbar, on 12/21/2007, -3/+5http://www.digg.com/2008_us_elections/Astronomers_ ...
  • Rew5, on 12/21/2007, -4/+1If it hits, that's going to make my life.
  • Orderless, on 12/21/2007, -0/+6Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1
    Close to the same odds.
    • iceman5664, on 12/21/2007, -1/+4where are you getting that number? That seems like ridiculously high odds...
      • jonjo, on 12/22/2007, -1/+2yeah i've got 77 friends and none of them have been..
        phone-rings/
        hello.. timmy was what?... mowing the lawn.. both legs?.. and his HEAD!
    • donmanguno, on 12/22/2007, -2/+0"Odds AGAINST being killed...: 77 to 1"
    • antitab, on 12/22/2007, -1/+4The last figure I heard was that the chance of death by ANYTHING in a year was 1:1000 on average. 1:77 on just a transportation accident? Combined with every other deadly thing in the world, that means we'd all live a few years total. Your numbers are *****.
  • Error601, on 12/21/2007, -3/+5And millions of astronomers simultaneously cream their pants.
  • frontporsche, on 12/21/2007, -0/+4 "The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone. " ..so, if there is only a 1.3% chance of hitting Mars at all, how can they have defined an "impact zone"? or, by "impact zone", do they mean that entire half of Mars that's facing the approaching asteroid?
    • thescimitar, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1I'd guess that, like landing on the moon, the asteroid's angle of approach can vary even a tenth of a degree and result in an overshot or undershot. So, given a set of possible angular change, 1.3% of those approaches will result in an impact. It's likely that the requirements for a strike are so acute that were an impact to occur, it would occur in a very specific place.
  • Renton, on 12/21/2007, -2/+6A planet sitting right next to the asteroid belt might get hit by an asteroid? No way.
    • Osirus1156, on 12/21/2007, -0/+2By right next to you mean by thousands of miles right?
    • dartmanx, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2I'd point of the idiocy of this, but hopefully the Bad Astronomer will do it, and do it much better than me. Yay, Phil.
  • DanJohnHarris, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1Anyone else surprised we can't have a more definite idea of whether or not the asteroid will hit?
    "1 in 75 chance that an asteroid will hit earth in a month".?
  • kefkastudio, on 12/21/2007, -0/+16Those odds are about as great as a digg user getting a girlfriend.

    I'm not holding my breath on this one.
    • Coded1, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1You know what after calculating the odds ... you're right ... damn
    • FishHammer, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1:( thats not cool, man

      asteroids dont give you an excuse to be a dick :(

      :'(
  • raskali, on 12/21/2007, -0/+3I'd like to report the earth MAY blow up. I put the odds at one in a hundred. Now can I get a research grant too?
    • lust, on 12/21/2007, -1/+4All I got is a dollar. Can we put the grant on layaway.
  • WaltDismal, on 12/21/2007, -1/+2It's far better that Mars gets hit by an asteroid, than Uranus being plowed by a meteor. This is my scientific opinion.
    • kooft, on 12/21/2007, -1/+3Yeah, but they've got lasers that can take care of asteroids on Uranus.
  • cybrguy, on 12/21/2007, -0/+17I think we should practice our "Armageddon skillz" and try to stop it using nukes. Besides, it would be pretty cool to watch.
  • davidrools, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1So that 1 in 75 chance...what does that depend on?
  • vsaint, on 12/22/2007, -1/+3SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE!
  • brocklese, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Shoemaker levy 9 happend in 1994 not 2004 like it said.
  • krolm, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2i hope it doesn't destroy the prothean technology
  • Poweroft, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1They always say that.
  • randysouth, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3Sir, it's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable.
  • mikerand, on 12/22/2007, -2/+1George Bush isn't doing enough to stop this.
    • soupdawg30, on 12/22/2007, -1/+1WTF why not!?!?!?!??! IRAQI OIL!!!!!
  • anagoge, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3If there is any intelligent life on Mars, now may be the time to consider a vacation to Earth.
  • Wholekernalcorn, on 12/22/2007, -1/+4This is caused by Global Warming on Earth, lack of National Health Care, too many rich people, the war in Iraq, tasers, and the fact that Bush doesn't care about Mars.
  • StrawberryMacaw, on 12/22/2007, -0/+5I see a few problems with this article:

    1. "...the asteroid, which is halfway to Mars..."

    What does that mean? Halfway from where?

    2. "Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations..."

    That makes no sense. If they have reason to expect the odds to diminish, that means that the odds are currently being overstated. They should correct the current odds estimate so that future observations have as much chance of increasing the figure as they do of decreasing it.

    3. As brocklese noted above, Shoemaker Levy 9 happened in 1994, not 2004.
    • lutey, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1In regards to point 2, the scientists are right.

      Since there is a 1 in 75 chance that the asteroid will hit that means that when they check the path at some later time there is a 74 in 75 chance that the actual path will send it wide of the planet. Thus making the chances of impact lower at that time with the improved data.
  • GoatRoper, on 12/22/2007, -1/+3I hope it takes that ***** Decepticon on Mars out before it can find it's way here
  • t3rmv3locity, on 12/22/2007, -1/+1is anybody thinking "BFD"...or is it just me?
  • tofuMYtofu, on 12/22/2007, -1/+2LEAVE MARS ALONE!!!!!!!
  • Lorddias, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2I read it from this link
    http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/35394/117/
    Lol they make it seem like all nasa really cares about is the high res gloss pics. GOGOGOGO Nasa get them high res gloss pics!
  • jordanau, on 12/22/2007, -2/+1DragonForce needs to film it and incorporate it into a music video. That would rock.
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