Is it true that a comet is going to hit earth soon?

Question

I heard that a comet is going to hit earth...it said somewhere between 2011 and 2027....and im scared to death...so please tell me its NOT true.

please keep in mind that i'm a 14 year old girl. So if i seem a little dumb about this sorry. Don't yell at me and call me an idiot though.

Answer 1

Theres one coming towards us and should pass right by us sometime soon.

Bad News: Its gonna come back around a second time in 2012 with a slight chance its gonna hit us.

Good News: Its too small to kill off the human race

Good News 2: The chance that its gonna hit us is like .00000000000000000000012% or something like that

so dont freak, i was just like you when i found out too. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning twice than getting killed in a meteor impact.

Answer 2

It is entirely possible that some major impact on Earth will occur from a Comet or Asteroid within the next 200 or 300 years. There is not much that can be done about it, either.

What you should be worried about is the possibility that Hillary Clionton will be elected President of the United States in November of 2008. When that happens you can kiss the United States good bye. and that will be the end of that. Not 2011, not 2027, but November of 2008. That is just around the corner. Wake up.

Answer 3

If scientists knew about a comet heading to earth, they would know with a lot more certainty when than the 16-year window between 2011 and 2027.
And they wouldn't know about it this far in advance, most comets are found when they are already inside the orbit of Saturn, which would be a year or 2 travel time to Earth's orbit.
And even if they knew of one heading our way, they wouldn't know for sure if it was headed right for us until it was closer to the sun - its orbit is perturbed by gravity from Jupiter and the sun and each perturbation can change its direction.

Being "afraid to death" of such a slight possibility with such a huge margin of error (16 years) makes me think that:
1. you need some help with unfounded fears (there are therapies for phobias that work very well)
2. you shouldn't believe everything you hear
3. people around you should make sure they don't tell you things that will scare you and that can't be proven

Answer 4

I feel so sorry for you, "Chicken Little". (The sky is falling, the sky is falling.) I don't know what you're taking for your neurosis, but you need to "up" the dose just a skosh.

You come out of nowhere to throw this "I'm scared to death" scene. Where have you been? Do you watch the news? Don't you think that just maybe, if this was definitely GOING to happen, there would have been SOMETHING in the news? Not tabloids, THE NEWS.

Now, really, the threat is out there, but most of the planet-killers have been identified and charted. And scientists are working on practical methods of deflecting asteroids and comets early, should computer models indicate the need.

Since the random incidents have only happened about every 65 million years or so, what makes you convinced this sort of thing is going to happen "any year now"? I guess you must think we are long overdue for a mass-extinction event.

Worry more about viruses and bacteria, and about things you can actaully DO something about. Mankind has gotten by so far.

Answer 5

Some 587 large, potentially threatening asteroids have been found near
Earth. All are bigger than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles), the threshold for what
most researchers agree could cause global catastrophe. None of these rocks
is on course to hit Earth. But there are about 500 more that have yet to be
found, according to leading estimates.

Most of the remaining large asteroids should be detected by the end of the
decade, NASA experts say. If one is ever determined to be a serious threat,
chances are good there will be a decade or more to deal with it.

But thousands upon thousands of smaller rocks, each capable of destroying a
city or even a state, will likely take much longer to find. Warning time
might be just days or weeks

Answer 6

There are no comets predicted to come anywhere near the Earth in the forseeable future. There are a couple of asteroids which have a very remote chance of hitting the Earth, but this is very unlikely.

Answer 7

To hipe movies and books they say stuff like that, and in most cases they talking about something that will come closer than normal. If they can tell to the hour when comet is going to hit other planets, than don't you think they would know to the day when one was going to hit Earth LOL the day we solve global warning one hits and puts us into freezer.

Answer 8

There are too many variables to predict exact locations of comets years in advance, so try not to worry about it. Even with all our advances, if some object in space is going to collide with us, we probably won't notice until the last minute, if at all. (So most predictions of future doom from space can safely be ignored.)

On the other hand, some Comet (tm) IS about to hit our washroom here tonight, and it is predicted to wipe out 99% of all life on all the tile and porcelain surfaces...

(sorry, but it's true, so I couldn't resist)

Answer 9

Yes, there is, and OMG, HERE IT COMES!!

Whew, that was a close one.

Jokes aside, the odds of a significant comet impact during your earthly lifetime are too low to be worthy of a minute of your worry. Try to relax and enjoy the beauty of the night sky, without worrying about doom falling from the skies.

Answer 10

The 2012 asteroid pass is unlikely to affect the Earth. Most comets are not rocks, which are dangerous, but snowball with some gravel in them. They are much less common than asteroids and in some cases a quite a bit smaller.

There is considerable danger of an asteroid impact but this is in 2880 and another a few thousand years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event#Near_misses_and_forecasts

zahbudar - keep your nasty politics to yourself. I don't live in the USA and you should not assume everone on the net does.