Well, only seven years late, I suppose. Looks like apocalypse is in the air round these parts...
(from Ananova.com)
Asteroid could wipe out a
continent in 2019
Astronomers have found an asteroid that appears
to be on a collision course with Earth.
It has been described as the most threatening
object yet detected in space.
A preliminary orbit suggests that 2002 NT7 could
strike the planet on February 1, 2019.
The BBC reports astronomers have given NT7 a
threat rating on the Palermo technical scale of
0.06, making it the first object to be given a
positive value.
Although they say it merits attention, they expect
more observations to show it is not on an
Earth-intersecting trajectory.
The asteroid is estimated to be about two
kilometres wide, large enough to cause
continent-wide devastation on Earth.
It was first seen on the night of July 5 by the Linear
Observatory's automated sky survey programme
in New Mexico.
Dr Benny Peiser, of Liverpool John Moores
University, told BBC News Online: "This asteroid
has now become the most threatening object in
the short history of asteroid detection."
But he added: "This unique event should not
diminish the fact that additional observations in
coming weeks will almost certainly - we hope -
eliminate the current threat."
Dr Donald Yeomans, from the US space agency's
(Nasa) Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California,
said: "The error in our knowledge of where NT7 will
be on February 1, 2019, is large, several tens of
millions of kilometres." |
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