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Fifty Meter Asteroid Might Hit Earth In 2098

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the warn-your-grandkids dept.

eldavojohn writes "The Bad Astronomer brings word of an asteroid discovered with a tiny chance of hitting Earth. While it's only 50 meters wide, it could have the impact of a 20 megaton bomb. It's still twenty million miles away so if it hits us, it won't happen until 2098. The real story here is how a remarkable telescope, dubbed Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System, that went operational in May found its first potential target in our growing impact alert system for Earth."

22 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. i'll be dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    don't care.. sorry..

    1. Re:i'll be dead by grub · · Score: 4, Funny


      Fuck you. I'll be 133 years old hooked up to machines and tubes.
      I CARE

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    2. Re:i'll be dead by soloport · · Score: 5, Funny

      I CARE TOO This asteroid has been poised for millions of years, ready to strike Earth in 2098, and the story has made it to /. just now? Come on editors!

    3. Re:i'll be dead by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

      Get off my synthilawn you Dawkindarned thirtynagers!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:i'll be dead by davester666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      And now you'll be forced in front of death panels, which decide when and how you will die, in the name of universal health care coverage.

      Oh wait, I'm channeling the Republican party again.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. Take action Now! by jdgeorge · · Score: 2, Funny

    First, let's figure out what this "Nature" is and what it wants. Then, let's stop it in its tracks!

  3. Who will save us? by Manos_Of_Fate · · Score: 5, Funny

    We'd better freeze Bruce Willis, just to be sure.

    --
    Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
    1. Re:Who will save us? by Antisyzygy · · Score: 4, Funny

      We better freeze the members of Aerosmith as well, otherwise he won't have epic tracks to listen to on his way to the asteroid.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    2. Re:Who will save us? by Darth_brooks · · Score: 2, Funny

      shouldn't we just freeze them on general principle? Just to get them out of the music scene once and for all?

      --
      There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
    3. Re:Who will save us? by treeves · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think they're already pretty much frozen, in the 1980s.

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    4. Re:Who will save us? by Ihmhi · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't know about that, Aerosmith seems pretty against cryogenics.

      I don't wanna close my eyes
      I don't wanna fall asleep

      --
      Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
  4. Re:No problem, send in a driller by AvitarX · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, Bruce Willis' head in a jar at least.

    --
    Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  5. Good news!!!!!!!! by GPLDAN · · Score: 2, Funny

    If we launch Rosie O'Donnell into orbit now, her gravitational pull will divert it away! Yay!

    1. Re:Good news!!!!!!!! by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but think about all the flooding from the tidal changes!

      --
      If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  6. Re:How can it destroy the Earth? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let's see,

    Take the year 2098... subtract the left wing anti-Christ(43)... subtract the right wing anti-Christ(44)... carry the asteroid(1)...

    2012!!! THE MAYANS WERE RIGHT!!!!

  7. Re:How can it destroy the Earth? by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm eligible for retirement in 2012, so the world as I know it will surely end. Don't know about the rest of you guys, though. More importantley...

    Our calendar ends on Dec 31st of THIS YEAR! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  8. Re:Key Words: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    But if it does hit, it is nearly certain that most of the people alive now won't be alive after the impact. Oh the humanity!

  9. Re:Kinda slow by richdun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, I'm guessing it isn't on a direct course for Earth, and is traveling through the solar system on some eccentric orbit around the Sun. Also, once it gets here (if it gets here), it will accelerate both as it gets closer to the Sun's gravity well and as it gets closer to Earth's gravity well (the latter especially as it enters the atmosphere).

    If it is headed directly for Earth, though, like "They're on a direct course for Sector 001," we're in trouble.

  10. Re:Is it REALLY that bad? by wjousts · · Score: 3, Funny

    By 2098 it'll probably be more like 85% of the Earth covered in water. By the coastal city of Denver will be under a tsunami watch just in case.

  11. telescoped? by prograde · · Score: 2, Funny

    telescoped [tel-uh-skohp-dee] noun, a process that runs in the background waiting for incoming photons.
    Usage: "here is how a remarkable telescoped ... found its first potential target."

  12. Re:WOLF WOLF WOLF by Preston+Pfarner · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, if it's a comet, it might be called Wolf-Biederman ...

  13. Re:And... by masmullin · · Score: 4, Funny

    All you need is brainz! All you need is brainz! All you need is brainz brainz... brainz is all you need.

    when I find myself in times of trouble, mother mary comes to me... and I eat her brainz, its yummy, its yummy.

    yesterday, my mortality was so far away, but i find that I am rotting today. oh i believe in yesterday