Will an asteroid crash into the Earth in 2032?
96388
No. But there will be one that comes pretty damn close. If you use a search engine like Yahoo! you can find out about the near miss that happend not too long ago (I think around November 1998). It was never on the news for good reason.  But we had a close call that could have wiped us all out. Check it out. Its very interesting. The site even give you a scale to show the asteroids proximity to earth, its course and what day it will pass by again. Hope that helps.
583540
I depends on the type of asteroid, a solid one we can deflect, but if it is an aglommerate of space debris, it will be like trying to avoid a shot gun blast.
1016046
we will be hit by an asteroid tomorrow. 1 billion people will burn instantly, the rest will slowly starve as the dust clouds block the sun.\n\nSo please save yourself from this pain and jump off some high building today.
1062861
Sooner or later life will end on earth. \n\nEither an asteroid will kill us or a disease or when the sun expands it will burn us to a crisp. So....\n\nIf you think human life is important than space travel is a 10 (if 10 is the most important) If you don't care about life then its a 4.
1185813
yes\nA huge asteroid will have a close encounter with Earth this weekend, but astronomers say there is no danger of an impact. The asteroid, known as 2004 XP14, will whiz by about 269,000 miles from the Earth, slightly farther away than the moon.
932550
the article from 40 years ago must have been wrong, or more likely more accurate observations revealed that the asteroid posed no danger to earth. The only asteroid that "MIGHT" hit the earth that is known of is the asteroid discovered in 2004 and named Apophis. it will come very close to earth in 2029, so close that it might be pulled into an orbit that will hit the earth on its next approach in 2036\n\nhowever we will not know for sure until we get more accurate measurements of its orbit, probably not till its approach in 2029.\n\nSo don't worry about it, by then we should be able to deflect it, if it indeed will be on a collision course.
798707
Interesting question samsam.\n\nMost people's immediate reaction would be to say that "of course it isn't".\n\nBut I can tell you that the earth increases in mass by 2 tons every single day !\n\nIt is estimated that around 20 tons of space debris in the form of dust, micro-meteorites, ice, and sometimes larger particles, hits the earth's atmosphere very day. Most of this burns up, but an estimated 2 tons of it will find its way to the ground.\n\nI will leave the physicists and mathematicians amongst you to calculate if the resultant changes in gravity will alter our orbit enough to destroy the Earth before the Sun explodes into a red giant !
5840
Maybe not soon, but eventually there will be a big space rock that will come crashing on Earth eventually.
992827
Dont you worry, still about 50000 Odd years left for that!!!And Earthlings will probably perish long before that in a nuclear war!
423720
Sure, in simple terms the main theory right now is that of a large meteoritic impact, proposed back in 1980.  It fits the requirement of a rapid and sudden kill-off event.  What killed the dinosuars?  Well the immediate effect of a large asteroid impact would be global firestorms.  The ejecta reaches low earth orbit and then superheats as it re-enters the atmosphere.  This pretty much covers much of the planet in fire.  Other bad things happen, toxic metals in the air and water, dust obscuring the sun, many bad things, but the main killing factor is the global fire storm.\n\nAs scientists we really like the asteroid impact theory as it is supported with the following eveidence (I have not heard any serious arguments about a double impact by the way):\n\n1. The boundry layer in which the extinction occured is ultra-rich in the element irridum.  These irridium levels are not found on earth, but match very well to those of meteoritic samples that we have.  This boundry layer with irridium has been found all over the globe.\n\n2. Shocked quartz deposits have been found in the regions near central to lower north america, indicating a large shockwave propagated across the area\n\n3. Tiny glass beads have been found in the same regions, with larger ones more concentrated near the Yucatan.  Thes glass bead are most closely related to objects we call Tektites, glass that forms from meteorite impact ejecta.  (cool science thing: you can get tektites for a couple dollars at any rock shop!)\n\n4. Tsunami deposits from that era have been found in the gulf of mexico region, indicating massive tidal wave events\n\n5. A crater caused an impact large enough to cause all of these things has been found right on the coast of the Yucatan, centered on Chicxulub, and dating to the right time period.
749360
There are no earth size asteroids. The earth is the 6th largest object in the solar system after the Sun and the 4 gas giants and bigger than Mars Venus and Mercury. So if there were an object as big as the Earth and therefore bigger than Mars Venus and Mercury, it would have long ago been classified as a planet, not an asteroid!\n\nYou appear to be unaware that there is international co-operation between NASA, the European Space Agency and others on a project called Spaceguard. which keeps an eye open for asteroids, comets and other objects that may perhaps be on a collision course with the Earth.\n\nThe term Spaceguard loosely refers to a number of efforts to discover and study near-Earth objects (NEO). Arthur C. Clarke coined the term in his novel Rendezvous with Rama where SPACEGUARD was the name of an early warning system created following a catastrophic asteroid impact on Italy. This name was later adopted by a number of real life efforts to discover and study Near-Earth Objects.\n\nA 1992 U.S. Congressional study produced a "Spaceguard Survey Report" which led to a mandate that NASA locate 90% of large near-Earth asteroids within 10 years\n\nWe know as of September 2006 of some 342,536 asteroids, But of these. only a relatively small number come inside Mars' orbit and less than 5,000 are classed as Near-Earth Objects.\n\nAs of August 31, 2006, 4,187 NEO's have been discovered: 57 near-Earth comets and 4,130 near-Earth asteroids. There are 792 NEO's which are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids.  \n\nEstimating the risks\n\nThere are two schemes for classification of impact hazards: the simple Torino Scale and the more complex Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale \n\nOn 25 December 2004, minor planet 99942 Apophis was assigned a 4 on the Torino scale, the highest rating so far. At 27 December 2004 there was a 2.7% chance of Earth impact on the 13 April 2029. However, on 28 December 2004, the risk of impact dropped to zero for 2029, but, due to a resonant return possibility the Torino rating for an April 2036 impact rose to 4 in early 2005 and, as of August 2006, has dropped gradually to a Torino rating of 0 (zero). The Palermo rating (August 2006) is −2.25.\n\nOnce the Spaceguard community is alerted to a potential impactor its orbit is immediately studied in great detail to get a more accurate projection of whether there will be an impact scenario or not. \n\nAs you can see the immediate threat anticipated on 25th Dec 2004 of an impact 25 years later was able to confidently be rejected, 3 days later. Word went round immediately there was an alert and the work needed was done, even though it was Christmas.\n\nSo the astronomers are on the case. and the paranoid should not let their uninformed imaginations run riot.\n\nCurrently, the only known NEO with a Palermo scale value greater than zero is (29075) 1950 DA, which is predicted to pass very close to or collide with the Earth (p≤0.003) in the year 2880. If this collision were to happen, the energy released by a collision with (29075) 1950 DA would cause an extinction event which would destroy most life on the planet. However, humanity has over 800 years to refine its estimates of the orbit of (29075) 1950 DA, and to deflect it if necessary.\n\nNASA maintains a continuously updated web page of the most significant NEO threats in the next 100 years - all or nearly all of which are highly likely to drop off the list eventually as more data comes in enabling more accurate predictions; however, that page does not, of course, include 1950 DA, because that will not strike for at least 800 years.\n\nSo it is down to vigilance so as to anticipate danger, precision so as to quantify it, and technical knowhow, so as to avert it.
633323
NASA wont let that happen. NASA have already announced that an asteroid is speeding towards and NASA also have said that they are prepared for it. Acording to thier plans they are going to launch a spacecraft which will be equpied with 3 rocket bombs. This space craft will launch 3 rocket bombs far away from earth atomosphere in space towards Asteroid which will break up asteroid. though NASA have also said that earth shud be ready to face lots and more frequent rocks falling from space due to debris created by collsion of rocket bombs and asteroid in sapace.
372861
In around 4 to 5 Billion years when the Sun is swollen in its death throes before it collapses into star known as a white dwarf . In fact the whole Earth will be vapourised.\n\nIf you mean by your question when will it be destroyed environmentally, then that's upto the caretakers of this planet wether that is humans or some other species.\n\nOtherwise the Earth will always have an atmosphere of one kind or another until the Sun begins to die.\n\nJules
474959
Yes, by making sure that everyone on Earth has a bunker with provisions to last as long as an asteroid impact winter, earthquake-proof walls, fallout-proof roofs, and anything else that you know the Earth cannot afford to provide 6,500,000,000 people. Lets face it, it is nearly impossible to prevent the unknown. People are going to die anyway. If one happens, lets help the survivors and find ways to somewhat reduce the death toll next time. If not, stay on alert. People will always be killed, no matter what preventions we have for the disasters.
655485
There will be no tsunamis, firestorms or mass extinctions to spoil your Memorial Day weekend. \n\nAlthough the Internet is rife with speculation that a fragment of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 will strike the Earth on May 25, neither the main comet nor any of its more than 40 fragments pose a danger to Earth. \n\n"We are very well acquainted with the trajectory of Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3," said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office. "There is absolutely no danger to people on the ground or the inhabitants of the International Space Station, as the main body of the object and any pieces from the breakup will pass many millions of miles beyond the Earth."\n\nImage above: Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys took images of the disintegration of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3's fragment B. Click to EnlargeCredit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI)\nMovie: Zoom to Fragment B close-up: + 544 Kb QuickTime | + Windows Media \n\nHowever, you can see the comet falling apart right before our eyes, thanks to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. \n\nRecent Hubble images have uncovered many more fragments than have been reported by ground-based observers. These observations provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the demise of a comet nucleus. \n\nNone of the comet's fragments will come closer than 5.5 million miles to Earth during its closest approaches May 12 - 28. That's more than 20 times the distance from the Earth to the moon.\n\nThe main fragment, designated fragment C, will pass closest to Earth on May 12 at a distance of approximately 7.3 million miles. It will be visible to small telescopes during the morning hours in the constellation Vulpecula. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope will observe the comet in May. \n\nAstronomers have been observing the comet for more than 75 years. The trajectory of this comet has been monitored and refined over time, and its path around the sun is well understood. Amateur and professional astronomers around the world have been tracking its spectacular disintegration for years. \n\nThe comet is currently comprised of a chain of fragments, named alphabetically, stretching across several degrees on the sky. (The sun and moon each have an apparent diameter of about 1/2 of a degree.) Ground-based observers have noted dramatic brightening events associated with some of the fragments (as seen in the image below) indicating that they are continuing to break-up and that some may disappear altogether.\n\n Image above: Ground based view of fragments B and G, R, and N on April 8, 2006. Credit: M. Jäger and G. Rhemann \n\nHubble caught two of the fragments, B and G, shortly after large outbursts in activity. Hubble also photographed fragment C , which at the time was less active. The resulting images reveal that a hierarchical destruction process is taking place, in which fragments are continuing to break into smaller chunks. Several dozen "mini-fragments" are found trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material that can only be detected in these very sensitive and high- resolution Hubble images.\n\nSequential Hubble images of the B fragment, taken a few days apart, suggest that the chunks are pushed down the tail by outgassing from the icy, sunward-facing surfaces of the chunks, much like space-walking astronauts are propelled by their jetpacks. The smaller chunks have the lowest mass, and so are accelerated away from the parent nucleus faster than the larger chunks. Some of the chunks seem to dissipate completely over the course of several days.\n\nDeep-freeze relics of the early solar system, cometary nuclei are porous and fragile mixes of dust and ices. They can be broken apart by gravitational tidal forces when they pass near large bodies. For example, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was torn to pieces when it skirted ne
899150
Barring one of these, http://www.livescience.com/technology/10ways_destroyearth.html in about 5 billion years the sun will have exhausted most of it's hydrogen and will swell up to a red giant, engulfing the earth. As our blackened, burned-out cinder of a planet orbits inside the sun, it will be plowing through solar material, and will gradually spiral into the core, where it will fly apart shortly before impact and be smashed into it's base elements with little fanfare.
1092534
""An asteroid possibly as large as a half-mile or more in diameter is rapidly approaching the Earth.  There is no need for concern, for no collision is in the offing, but the space rock will make an exceptionally close approach to our planet early on Monday, July 3, passing just beyond the Moon’s average distance from Earth.  \n\nAstronomers will attempt to get a more accurate assessment of the asteroid’s size by “pinging” it with radar.  \n\nAnd skywatchers with good telescopes and some experience just might be able to get a glimpse of this cosmic rock as it streaks rapidly past our planet in the wee hours Monday. The closest approach occurs late Sunday for U.S. West Coast skywatchers.\n\nThe asteroid, designated 2004 XP14, was discovered on Dec. 10, 2004 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR), a continuing camera survey to keep watch for asteroids that may pass uncomfortably close to Earth.  \n\nAlthough initially there were concerns that this asteroid might possibly impact Earth later this century and thus merit special monitoring, further analysis of its orbit has since ruled out any such collision, at least in the foreseeable future.\n............................\nThe size of 2004 XP 14 is not precisely known. But based on its brightness, the diameter is believed to be somewhere in the range of 1,345 to 3,018-feet  (410 to 920 meters). That's between a quarter mile and just over a half-mile wide. ""\n\nI don't think that will happen anything even if it collides with the moon.