Bloggers Discuss Threat to Earth From Apophis Asteroid
Bloggers are discussing the possibility that a 390-metre wide asteroid called
Apophis could impact the Earth in 2036 with a force 100,000 times that
of the Hiroshima bomb. Scientists must have picked the name Apophis to make
the asteroid sound even more frightening. In Egyptian mythology Apophis represented evil and was the enemy of the Sun God Re. There is only a very small chance Apophis will hit Earth -- a 1 in 5,560 chance -- but scientists are taking
it seriously. However, not all bloggers are. A few are saying the media is being irresponsible again. But there really hasn't been much media hype about Apophis -- a Google News search shows less than 50 results. Here is some of the coverage from the blogosphere so far.
A Boing Boing post
on Apophis includes the obvious Stargate SG-1 reference.
Delaware Blog takes a break from Delaware news to provide a
good summary of the threat
from Apophis.
Enblog notes the small possibility of an Apophis hit but still gives Apophis a long thoughtful post.
Confessions of a Mathematician notes that the possible "deflection day" in 2029 (where Apophis could sneak through a keyhole in space, get deflected by Earth's gravity and come back and hit us in 2036) is also her birthday: "On Friday, April 13, 2029, it will be Good Friday, Friday the 13th, and I will turn 47. That day is also the day that may decide humanity’s ultimate fate."
The Huge Entity asks what will you be doing when Apophis hits?
Technorati shows slightly over 600
results for Apophis. That's not too many (and a few are just about the
SG-1 Apophis) so it wouldn't take long to sit down in front of your computer and read all the Apophis asteroid posts. Some bloggers are probably just being patient. They realize they have plenty of time to blog about Apophis before he arrives.
