2007-06-23 14:54:08 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
We do not know.
However, many telescopes (some of them automated) are watching and nothing has been seen yet that will come even close.
Therefore, the probability is very, very small.
On the NASA site, there is a list of 871 'potentially hazardous asteroids'. You can check the orbit of each one. None of them will come close to hitting us in 2009.
There appears to be no seious threat for fifty to sixty years. After that, we have to wait as such long-term projections become uncertain (asteroid orbits can change a bit over long periods of time).
To be able to wipe out the human race, an asteroid would have to be very big. Most of the asteroids on the NASA list are smaller things. Sure, they could do some damage IF they were to hit, but they would not wipe out the human race.
2007-06-23 15:02:00 · answer #1 · answered by Raymond 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You never know .There is a lot of fragments flying about out there ,one is bound to collide with the Earth sometime.It has happened in the past so it is just a matter of time .It may even happen before 2009.I hope it doesn't happen before i see Steven Spielberg's new movie "When Worlds Collide'', a remake of the 1950 science fiction movie by George Pal.
2007-06-24 01:48:37 · answer #2 · answered by ROBERT P 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is one that is headed our way. Astronomers think it will, as an inbound, pass outside the orbit of the moon in 2009. Outbound, it will pass inside the orbit in 2012. Cosmically speaking a very near miss - they hope. It wouldn't take much either way for it to change course a bit and smack us. It is the size of Manhatten.
They want to use it as an opportunity to try altering it into a hyperbolic course that would miss us by a wide margin. They are recommending a gravity tow from a massive payload.
2007-06-23 22:36:21 · answer #3 · answered by Sophist 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I haven't heard anything about that. But it's always possible... I once heard that Earth has seen 6 mass extinctions in it's 4.5 billion years of existence. I wonder if we'll be mass extinction number seven in 2009...
2007-06-24 01:59:42 · answer #4 · answered by TheRyeGuy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It wouldnt wipe out eveyone, a few thousand will live and the governmens probably have a special bunker to live in if it did.
2007-06-24 12:02:31 · answer #5 · answered by sukiesoya2004 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, You better take out a life insurance policy today.
2007-06-27 15:15:20 · answer #6 · answered by Kirk Rose 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, please don't worry about that. There are no meteors that will hit earth for at least 160 years, and the odds are tiny even for that one. You probably won't be around then :)
2007-06-23 22:10:05 · answer #7 · answered by PH 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
most likly not, on 6/6/06 every 1 said that that was going to happen, and apparently we are still here.
2007-06-24 00:20:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, Chicken Little.
The sky will not be falling then. Where do you get this garbage info?
2007-06-23 22:51:43 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
They belive it to be 2012 but i dint belive it.
2007-06-27 13:39:52 · answer #10 · answered by Nimali F 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋