Scientists are growing more excited about the possibility of witnessing, for the first time, a celestial pool shot that would do Fast Eddie Felsen proud: An asteroid they first spotted last month may slam into Mars on Jan. 30.
The estimated odds of a hit are steadily improving — originally 1 in 350, upgraded Thursday to 1 in 75, tremendously high by space standards. Astronomers have their fingers crossed. Though they’ve seen bits of a busted comet rain down on Jupiter, they’ve never observed an asteroid-planet collision and are thrilled with what they might learn.
The hunk of rock in question, which scientists have whimsically named 2007 WD5, is about 160 feet across, roughly the size of the one that caused the “Tunguska event,” flattening millions of trees and killing wildlife over hundreds of square miles in remote Siberia when it blew up in the atmosphere in 1908 with a force equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb.
The Lede has more.
Thanks to Bob Ormond for the pointer.