Did A 13 Year Old's Science Fair Project Cause NASA To Alter It's Prediction?

A German tabloid is claiming that the research conducted by a 13 year old school boy for his science fair project forced NASA to change it's predictions regarding a "near earth object" and it's chances of colliding with Earth. For it's part NASA spokesman Duane Brown says "NASA has never corresponded with this individual,". "We've spoken with [Near-Earth Object program manager] Don Yeomans, who came up with our current prediction for the asteroid, and he's sticking to his numbers." The student, Nico Marquardt, reportedly has the chances for the Apophis asteroid hitting the Earth in 2036 at one-in-450, while NASA put the odds at one-in-45,000. The discrepancy lies in NASA's failure to account for the chance of the asteroids trajectory being altered by a collision with a satellite according to the tabloid... I think I'll trust the NASA numbers. The CBC has the story, including a brief description of the Torino Scale for describing the damage that impact from a NEO is rated... think I'll look into that a bit more.

Large Asteroid to pass within viewing distance of Earth

The CBC is reporting that NASA scientists are saying "Asteroid 2007 TU24 will pass within about 540,000 kilometres, or 1.4 lunar distances, of Earth early Tuesday for Canadians, reaching its closest approach at 3:23 a.m. ET." The asteroid is approximated as 150 to 600 metres in diameter and is said to have no chance of hitting or affecting Earth. While NASA says asteroids of this size pass this close to Earth about every five years, they only hit the Earth on average once every 37,000 years. Uhhh.... when was the last one?

Let your vote count!

Cnet's News.com is hosting a friendly competition to see which 80's arcade classic you would choose if you could travel back in time with a pocket full of quarters. As a child of the 80's it was a blast from the past just reading through the list, and I have to say that I didn't personally go with the popular choice. I won't influence your vote by revealing mine, lets just say that I'm not surprised by the voting thus far. I took this vote quite seriously and spent several minutes debating, in my mind, which classic was worthy of my vote and why! With greats like Mario Bros., Space Invaders, Pole Position and Pac-man on the list who can choose? I almost gave Frogger the nod for it's appearance in Seinfeld but figured I spent more quarters on another title and would probably gravitate to it again if given the chance.