In
case you’ve received frightening email forwards about an asteroid
impact on March 21st, or you’ve seen alarmist headlines like “Asteroid
hurtles toward Earth,” you should know that there’s nothing to worry
about (at least in this century). Dr. Phil Plait debunks the stories of
asteroid 2003 QQ47. Sure, it will pass near us, but "near" in
astronomical terms means some millions of miles. So despite what you've
heard, it won't be impacting Earth.
Let me be very
clear right away: Nope. It won’t. This story is totally wrong! Well, the
asteroid does exist, but it won’t hit us next week, and in fact can’t
hit the Earth for at least a century. The truth is the asteroid will
safely pass us on Mar. 26 of this year, never getting closer than 19
million kilometers (nearly 12 million miles)—about 50 times farther away
than the Moon!
He then goes on to explain how the
alarming (but inaccurate and dated) story got started. But even though
there’s nothing to worry about, asteroid QQ47 is an interesting
celestial body, which
you can read about at Bad Astronomy.
In
case you’ve received frightening email forwards about an asteroid
impact on March 21st, or you’ve seen alarmist headlines like “Asteroid
hurtles toward Earth,” you should know that there’s nothing to worry
about (at least in this century). Dr. Phil Plait debunks the stories of
asteroid 2003 QQ47. Sure, it will pass near us, but "near" in
astronomical terms means some millions of miles. So despite what you've
heard, it won't be impacting Earth.
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