There is an interesting article on the front page of today's New York Times.
It says that on Thursday Oct 26 2028 at 1:30 PM (EST) asteroid XF11 will pass
less that 30,000 miles from the Earth (diameter 8000 miles) with a slight but
hard to calculate probability that it will impact the planet. People in
Europe may get an especially good look at it, but we'll know a lot more about
its orbit in about 2 years.
The asteroid is thought to be about a mile across, the largest impact in
recent history was the Tunguska event of 1908, that object was 300 feet
across and produced a 15 megaton blast. Dr. Brian G Marsden, director of the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory reassures us that the asteroid that
killed the dinosaurs was about 6 miles across, so even if this one hits there
is a good chance it will not lead to the total extinction of the human race.
It looks like H bombs may actually find something useful to do.
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
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