When is it predicted for an asteroid will hit the earth, and how much of a catastrophe will it be?

Question

Is it calulated where it would hit?

Answer 1

An asteriod is predicted to hit Earth in 2029, but it is a 1/230 chance.

It depeds where it hits and how big is it. If it is large asteriod (size on NY) and it hit a densley populated area like China, millions of lives would be lost. Also, If it is large enough, and it hits the ocean, it may create a tsunami and cause a catastrophe that way. If it is a relitivily small/ medium size asteriod, it would harmlessy burn up in Earths atmoshpere. Scientists haven't predicted where the impact would be if it hit, but since the earth is 75% ocean, it will probably land there.

If there was a chance (say 1/10) the countries of the world would launch already planned, and availble schemes to destroy or drive the asteriod away, with such things as a super laser that will blow the asteriod into smithereens or a solar magnifier that will turn the asteriods internal water into gas and propell it away.

Answer 2

There is three major asteroids regarded with even some probability of collision.

Apophis in 2026 has a 1 in 45,000 chance to strike the earth.

The same asteroid will return, effected by passing earths gravity, with an unknown probability to hit the earth in 2038. The asteroid has to hit a certain point that is only 200 meters wide to correctly reallign itself to have ANY probability to collide with the earth in 2038, and the probability of hitting that spot is 1 in 300. If it does hit the keyhole, then a new probability will be determined, which will probably also end up being too high to be a concern.

A 10km wide asteroid has a 1 in 140 chance to hit the earth in 2880, which is so majorly far into the future for any concern or need for contingency planning.

With all that said, in short, we're safe for now :)

Answer 3

Asteroids hit the earth all the time. However, a sufficiently large asteroid can hit which will wipe out most life. This is known as an extinction event. It is unknown when this will happen but it seems to occur on average once every 100 million years with the last one happening 65 million years ago. It could happen today or in another 150 million years, there is no way to know right now. It is unknown where it would hit, but since the earth is covered mostly by water, it would seem more likely to hit an ocean. It probably would not make much difference where it hit in terms of wiping out life.

Answer 4

No asteroid is predicted to hit Earth. It is like asking when you are predicted to have a car accident. You have a chance, and that chance can be calculated, but it is still just a chance. There is no way to predict when exactly your next accident will happen until the moment you see the other car about to hit you, maybe 1 second before the accident. So with asteroids, none are on a collision course right now, but at some future time one could be. Each asteroid that we know about is being tracked, and if one of them were going to hit Earth in the next 50 years, we would know that. 50 years is to asteroid collision as 1 second is to car accidents.

Answer 5

No current predictions of an asteroid hitting the earth.
There are some that could come close.

How big a catastrophe, should one strike the earth, would depend upon where it hit, how fast it was traveling relative to the earth, and how big it was. Everything from "end of the world and all life" to "wow, I'm glad it hit the Marianas Trench and not London".

Answer 6

No time table that i have heard of. As far as catastrophe it depends on how big the asteriod is. If its big enough it can break teh crust of the earth and strike the mantel then the whole would release rock not in molten form but in gas form. This would Incinerate everything in that hemisphere and then render the other half of the globe unfertile because of all the sulfur that would be released into the atmosphere. Global warming would run rampant for a couple years then an ice age would occur. Game over we all die

Answer 7

The governments of most nations in the world know the exact date They have the ability to see out into the near solar system and detect these objects. There have been a number of very close calls in the last few years.

Even if part of a small one hits earth you can expect a nuclear winter effect that is going to cause something like a year of night. It will kill off all plant life on earth and most animals.

Nothing you can do but enjoy the ride.

Answer 8

I keep hearing 2029, and that's -way- too far in the future to even begin to try and predict where, exactly, it will impact (if it impacts at all). Or it may be just a 'near miss'. There have been plenty of those in the last 50 years or so.

Doug

Answer 9

It won't happen in your life time , so don't worry about it.

But If it was to happen in your life time, you can't do anything about it anyway, so why worry?

Answer 10

2029 and no one knows but man will survive