How long before a meteor hits the earth ?

Question

it seems the moon is covered with craters , the earth has been hit in the last million years a few times , but are we due soon for some more ? and what will be the effects on our lives ?

Answer 1

Meteors hit the Earth all the time...perhaps you'd like to specify a lower size limit? Of course we will get hit by a big one eventually...but you can't say we are "due" to be hit. It's all random, meteors don't follow a schedule.

The last "big" hit took place over Siberia in 1908...fortunately it was over a nearly deserted area. If you want to say that meteors follow any kind of a schedule, that one was a "once in a thousand years" hit...so maybe that means we are safe for a while. If it had happened over a city, thousands of people would have died.

FYI, Apophis isn't going to hit the Earth. The article that guy linked to was fearmongering at its finest.

Answer 2

Let's go back to school OK? A meteor is an object of matter that is in orbit around either the sun or one of the planets. There are some rouge meteors that enter the solar system and are caught by the sun or one of the planets and end up staying or go right on through the solar system.

Meteorites are an object of matter that actually get through the atmosphere and hit the planet.

Now to answer you question "How long before a meteor hits the earth ?" ANSWER -- NEVER.

Meteorites on the other hand hit the earth every day. Some burn up in the atmosphere and the dust settles to the surface of our planet. Some smaller than a golf ball others about the size of a basket ball get to the surface of our planet. In theory the largest one to hit the earth actually caused the formation of the moon. The largest known meteorite to have hit the earth (and stayed on the planet) was some 65 million years ago off the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. It was an E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event) that is said to have killed the dinosaurs.

The next one is due any day now. If one goes back in the paleological history of the planet we are a little overdue.

Answer 3

Fluke is right! The earth has been hit millions of times.... there is even a good possiblity that several meteors have hit the earth since you posted your question. I guess the only issue here is, when will the next big one be!
There are many craters still visible on the earths surface. You could google and find pictures. The most obvious one today is the crater at Winslow, Arizona

Answer 4

Well, considering i read in National Geographic once that there are more people working in a single McDonalds than are watching the cosmos for meteors right now, i'd say..well, we won't have any idea how long. i know we've had a couple of very close near misses.

I remember hearing that scientists were saying that we were due for another big collision a few years ago. i'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not coming anytime soon, i've got a few more things i'd like to do before we are plunged into another ice age.

The effects on our lives, if we still have them...well, that all depends on the size of the meteor...small ones enter our atmosphere and burn up before entry quite often. If it's a big one...well, there's always total distruction, tsunamis that can wipe out millions, and all sorts of wonderful things i wont get into. But best not to be pessimistic. ;)

Answer 5

The earth is constantly being bombarded by meteors, usually very small. The Leonid's come by every year around August and in recent years put on quite a show (this year being an exception due to full moon) " Falling stars " are meteors.

Do not worry about the "Big One", it is just another doomsday theory, plausible even probable... but has anyone actually calculated the likelihood of said event in a limited frame ...say the next thousand years?

Answer 6

The next big one predicted is Apophis, due in 31 years time and Nasa has estimated that an impact from Apophis, which has an outside chance of hitting the Earth in 2036, would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.

Have a nice evening!

Oh hang on Snooky tells me it's already .... AGGGHHH!

Answer 7

The Earth has also been hit millions of times. But our atmosphere has eroded the craters away!

Answer 8

I wouldnt worry about it love, the universe is knocking on a bit, things aint flying about the way they used to when it was young, its expanding all the time, putting more space between us and everything else, there is an asteroid field just down the road a bit tho, hopefully they will stay where they are, but if it happens the best thing you can do if you are not in a direct line with it is get roaring drunk, and kiss your *** goodbye....

Answer 9

Meteors hit the earth several times daily. They usually burn up in the atmosphere.

Answer 10

The earth is hit all the Atmosphere burns them up on entry. Where as the moon has none so ends up looking like a teenagers spotty face.