just curious about

[jtkirk1701]

The comet or meteor that past earth at around 350,000 miles a couple of years ago. The earth's gravity must have changed its orbit. Dose anyone know when it will return and if it will be any closer????

 

[lukman]

Maybe next trip it will collide with earth <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />Just kidding, the solar system, the universe is a very empty space, unlike the early year of universe, the chance collision is significantly way lower then one chance to win a lottery. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[lukman]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p> However...................given enough time the Earth will be hit by a comet or large asteroid. Perhaps in a year or perhaps in 2 million years. Do you feel lucky today? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />I may have won lottery 10s thousand time in 2million years <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

There have been two closer than that last month!!<br /><br />In any case, as of the present time, no orbits have been changed enough to say in impact is probable for any object.<br /><br />Asteroid Apophis, which approaches the earth in 2029 has a very small chance of having it's orbit shifted perfectly so that it could impact earth on a later orbit. We will likely have eliminated even that small possibility with observations before then.<br /><br />The real danger is from a comet or asteroid we don't yet know about.<br /><br />MW <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[jtkirk1701]

thank you

 

[MeteorWayne]

You are welcome, keep looking up! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[nexium]

These close approaches do change the orbit of the intruder, typically making a future hit less likely.Typically we gather enough data with sufficient accuracy to determine that the next possible hit of that intruder is decades to a century in the future. Generally we can not predict more than a century into the future because we do multibody calculations poorly. Neil