NASA has issued its highest threat warning giving asteroid "2004 MN4" a rating of four on the 10-point Torino Scale used to rate intergalactic threats. The highest previous rating has been one.
The Torino Scale was set up by the International Astronomical Union after concern at too many cases of "crying wolf", where potentially dangerous asteroids were later shown to pose no risk to Earth.
Although the risk from 2004 MN4 was likely to be refined with further measurements, it had already been under observation for 187 days so astronomers were quite confident of their predictions.
Holy shit! There's a 10-point scale used to rate intergalactic threats??? How come I didn't know about this before?? That's super geeky cool! From now on, I am ranking EVERYTHING in my life according to the "Torino Scale".
"Oh what's that? You over-heated the milk while making my morning latte? I'll have to give you a 1.618 on the Torino Scale I'm afraid."
Oh, btw, we're all going to die. I always said humans only had until 2030.
If it was an iron type that remained intact as it passed through the atmosphere, 2004 MN4's size meant it could have an impact equivalent to between 100 to 150 hydrogen bombs.
However, he said it was unlikely to pose a "mass extinction event" such as the one which occurred 65 million years ago. On that occasion a gigantic rock collided with Earth resulting in dust clouds blotting out the sun, destroying most animal and plant life.
A more recent collision with Earth happened 20,000 years ago when an asteroid, 100m in diameter, landed in the US causing a crater one 1km across.
Even if it turns out to be a near miss, Mr Floyd said between now and 2079 there were at least 38 potentially hazardous close encounters.
[Herald Sun]
You might want to read the small type......
"The rating for 2004 MN4 means it will have a 1.6 per cent chance of colliding with Earth when it crosses paths on April 13, 2029."
1.6% chance!!!
Posted by: Shane Williamson | Tuesday, December 28, 2004 at 10:07 AM
Even though they are saying that this was discovered in 2004. I do think I remember that there was news about an asteriod hitting earth or coming relatively close to cause a scare in 1999.
If I am wrong could someone please tell [well e-mail...] me and get information to me to prove me wrong? If you can't prove me wrong... then why is NASA trying to cover up the story? To reduce wide spread panic? To make sure that life continues quietly until the last days of mankind?
I would think that they are trying to hide something because why would they say that the asteroid is "unusual enough to merit special monitoring by astronomers, but should not be of public concern." from: "http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news146.html"
I think this is a pathetic excuse to hide the truth.
Think about it, what is the chances of me hearing about news of an asteroid hitting earth around 2029 on either CNN or BBC news in 1999... and another being discovered in 2004 that has the same impact date?
Mail me to let me know what you think.
---John...
Posted by: John Da Silva | Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 04:40 AM