A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.
"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees....
..."We know that it's going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there's a possibility of an impact," he said.
If the asteroid does smash into Mars, it will probably hit near the equator close to where the rover Opportunity has been exploring the Martian plains since 2004. The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone. Speeding at 8 miles a second, a collision would carve a hole the size of the famed Meteor Crater in Arizona....
RIA Novosti (Russia) notes:
"It will not influence the Earth in any way," {Sergei} Smirnov {Russian Academy of Science spokesman} said....
...The scientist said that if the collision takes place, it will not be visible without high-definition telescopes, but would still provide valuable scientific data: "The object is sure to change its flight path, and this will considerably enrich our knowledge of the mass and density of asteroids."
He also said a large asteroid was expected to pass near Earth in 2028 which could cause a major disaster if it collides with the planet.
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