Mars to be in danger of being struck · 2007-12-24 16:35
The newly discovered space rock known as 2007 WD5 has a one in 75 chance of colliding with Mars on January 30, astronomers have calculated.
If 2007 WD5, which is about 100 metres in diameter, does strike Mars at the end of next month, it would cause an explosion equivalent to several megatonnes of TNT.
The astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Steve Chesley said that "these odds are extremely unusual."
If the asteroid does hit, it would give astronomers a rare opportunity to study the effects of such a strike. The object is broadly similar in size to the one that hit Tunguska in Siberia in 1908, which felled an estimated 80 million trees over 810 square miles.
The likely impact would be on the threshold of visibility from the largest of Earth’s observatories, but its effects would readily be seen by probes orbiting the Red Planet such as the European Space Agency’s Mars Express. It will not be visible with domestic telescopes or the naked eye.
The chances of an impact being seen with large terrestrial telescopes are greater than usual because Mars is currently very close to Earth, Timesonline reported.
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