Slashdot

Small Asteroid On Collision Course With Earth

musatov writes "There's talk on The Minor Planet Mailing List about a small asteroid approaching Earth with a 99.8% probability of colliding. The entrance to the Earth's atmosphere will take place October 7 at 0246 UTC (2:35 after this story goes live) over northern Sudan, releasing the energy of about a kiloton of TNT. The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size; it is expected to burn up completely in the atmosphere, causing no harm. As a powerful bolide, it may put on quite a show in the sky. For those advanced enough in astronomy to observe, check the MPEC 2008-T50 and MPEC 2008-T64 circulars. NASA's JPL Small Body Database has a 3D orbit view. The story has been already picked up by CNN and NASA."<p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/06/2243220&from=rss"><img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=08/10/06/2243220"></a></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/06/2243220&from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/49ee7ezMAGPGvYK6s_ebinavh44/a"><img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/49ee7ezMAGPGvYK6s_ebinavh44/i" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/j7uENTtCfDw" height="1" width="1"/>