Not a Good Year for Mars

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weixing
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Post by weixing »

Hi,
The Mars impact probability had increases to 4 Percent:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news153.html

Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
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Post by Robin Lee »

weixing wrote:Hi,
The Mars impact probability had increases to 4 Percent:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news153.html

Have a nice day.
It's now 3.6%. Does anyone know the angular size of Mars on 31 Jan? I am worry that even the CMOS camera on my 8" LX90 can't reveal an impact flash.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-152
Clear skies,
Robin.

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weixing
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Post by weixing »

Hi,
t's now 3.6%. Does anyone know the angular size of Mars on 31 Jan? I am worry that even the CMOS camera on my 8" LX90 can't reveal an impact flash.
I don't think you'll be able to see the flash... may be you'll see the dust cloud created by the impact.

Hmm... less than one month and still can't confirm whether it'll hit Mars :( :(

Just imagine if this is an Asteroid coming towards us and we still can't confirm whether it'll hit us one month before, I think we are in deep trouble.

May be the only solution is: if there is a probability after the calculation, deal with it. :P

Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
:mrgreen: "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." :mrgreen:
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boothee
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Post by boothee »

weixing wrote: Hmm... less than one month and still can't confirm whether it'll hit Mars :( :(

Just imagine if this is an Asteroid coming towards us and we still can't confirm whether it'll hit us one month before, I think we are in deep trouble.

May be the only solution is: if there is a probability after the calculation, deal with it. :P
OMG! That is right!
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Post by Tachyon »

Poor Martians... :(
[80% Steve, 20% Alfred] ------- Probability of Clear Skies = (Age of newest equipment in days) / [(Number of observers) * (Total Aperture of all telescopes present in mm)]
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Mars saved

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Post by ariefm71 »

that's not cool :(
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Post by Robin Lee »

Aw.. 0.01% just makes me disappointed. By the way, Bruce Willis in Armageddon was able to save the Earth in 15 days.
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Post by Airconvent »

Kim Miau wrote:Aw.. 0.01% just makes me disappointed. By the way, Bruce Willis in Armageddon was able to save the Earth in 15 days.
Hollywood can save practically anything except save themselves from their writers! BTW, Armageddon was more hollywood than physics.
Deep Impact was tamer but more credible but even that was still bordering on science fiction. Look at the Mercury probe. They had to swing it past Mercury several times , in actual, clocking several Mercurian year just so it can slide into orbit....And you think a shuttle can rendezvous with a comet so easily?
Also, comets are made of fragile rock and ice which is why they can spout a tail whereas in armageddon, the comet was made of diamond!
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Post by Robin Lee »

MESSENGER swung around the Mercury for 3 times as they want to save the fuel and let the gravity of the planets to break the probe without using fuel.

I think the way they land on the asteroid in the Armageddon is quite possible.
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