I've found it also on line a few places... like this one...
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-mars21dec21,0,6729483.story?coll=la-home-center
but wonder if you've seen it anywhere on the science sites?....
could be a real show like Shoemaker-Levy 9, huh?
2007-12-21 00:32:27 · 6 answers · asked by meanolmaw 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Great, I was just getting my head around this global warming thing and now pieces of mars falling out of the sky. A piece the size of S-L9 would do more to Mars than put on a show. RScott
2007-12-21 01:12:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I doubt the impact would be visible to amateur telescopes, but perhaps the dust cloud kicked up might be. But it would be premature to assume that it would or would not be seen from Earth if it occurs on the side facing us. Nobody has definitely seen a stony or metallic asteroid crash into one of the inner planets before, let alone the Moon. When the Shoemaker-Levy9 comet struck Jupiter back in 1994, nobody then was sure exactly what would happen or if we'd even see anything. I would if at all possible watch Mars and wait and see. One thing is certain, Mars' thin atmosphere will not stop this asteroid, especially if it's a single block of stone. It will strike the ground at full cosmic velocity and blast out a crater like Meteor Crater in Arizona. It would kill everyone in a a large city if it strikes it or worse yet explodes several miles above the ground. I was as surprised as you are to learn of this development, and I plan to scrutinize Mars as closely as the normally horrid weather here in the south allows in hopes of seeing any change the impact, if it occurs makes to Mars. It's far from certain, but if this asteroid strays close enough to Mars, it will be drawn into the planet like dust into a wind tunnel.
2007-12-21 10:31:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shoemaker-Levy was a comet, not an asteroid. The asteroid is not anywhere NEAR the size of the comet that hit Jupiter, and Mars doesn't have the same gaseous atmosphere that Jupiter does. You might see a big plume of dust, but no nice fireworks show.
2007-12-21 08:40:57 · answer #3 · answered by Resident Heretic 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've been waiting for something like this for a while now.
You always here about whether or not an asteroid will hit earth, but never any other planet.
This is especially interesting considering that it's mars.
Thanks for the heads-up.
I wonder if you'll be able to see the impact occur through a telescope, if the correct conditions are in order. They say it'd be visible through telescopes, but I wonder if they mean more powerful than the average joe amatuer astronomer scope. Anyone wanna elaborate on the possibility?
2007-12-21 09:17:05 · answer #4 · answered by Jansen J 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's pretty unlikely that there will be an impact. Currently the odds are about 1 in 75 that a collision will occur, but NASA thinks that once the object's orbit is calculated more precisely, those odds will become much slimmer.
2007-12-21 08:45:36 · answer #5 · answered by Nature Boy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pretty cool. I had not seen that story anywhere before.
2007-12-21 08:46:01 · answer #6 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋