Asteroid to fly by Earth in November - Visible to naked eye

[AcesandEights]

Apophis will be so close, it would be close enough to knock out geostationary satellites! I know! It's crazy, eh? (However it won't due to the trajectory of its path.) I haven't checked on any updated info on the flight path/impact risk path in a while...is this up to date info, Neil?

[rongravy]

I was reading about this in the paper today, and I thought about this thread. They said it was the closest asteroid since the 70's or something. I was like, "Wait a second here. What about that one they talked about in that thread?" Now I realise they are one and the same. I just wanted to share that, lol. I just got my net back today since the weekend. Woops, gotta pay those bills... Back in 2029, and closer? Scary. I guess it wouldn't matter much since it'd hit and I'd probably die pretty quick. I also guess, maybe if nothing was going to save me anyway, maybe I'd rather just not know.

[Mike70]

I know! It's crazy, eh? I haven't checked on any updated info on the flight path/impact risk path in a while...is this up to date info, Neil? i keep up with space related stuff pretty closely. apophis will undoubtedly miss the earth on 13 apr 2029 but if it passes within a 600-1 km "keyhole" in space, then the probability that it WILL strike the earth on 13 apr 2036 becomes a real problem to worry about. more on apophis' pass in 2029: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/

[Neil]

i keep up with space related stuff pretty closely. apophis will undoubtedly miss the earth on 13 apr 2029 but if it passes within a 600-1 km "keyhole" in space, then the probability that it WILL strike the earth on 13 apr 2036 becomes a real problem to worry about. more on apophis' pass in 2029: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ And then 7yrs to do something about it, isn't long...

[Legion2213]

I wonder how many fairly intelligent civilisations on other worlds have been wiped out by such asteroid strikes through the history of the universe? It kind of sucks that at our level of progress, we can see it coming, know what the results will be but be totally unable to do anything about it. It would also be ironic that our banning nukes from space to save the world from nuke destruction has severely limited our options to defend aganst such asteroid strikes (via nukes themselves or nuclear powered space craft). We really need to be putting something in place now, not waiting until 2029 or beyond to see if the odds get even grimmer. Maybe a new world order single global governmant isn't such a shitty idea after all.