spacetoday.net: Mars impact all but ruled out

Mars impact all but ruled out

Posted: Thu, Jan 10, 2008, 8:09 AM ET (1309 GMT)
Hubble image of Mars

New observations of an asteroid have effectively eliminated any chance that the object will collide with Mars at the end of the month, JPL scientists said late Wednesday. New calculations give an only 1-in-10,000 chance that asteroid 2007 WD5 will collide with Mars on January 30, thanks to new observations of the small asteroid that allowed astronomers to refine the asteroid's orbit. Last month, the asteroid has as great as a four-percent chance of an impact, based on the limited observations of the asteroid at that point. Researchers with JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office now believe the asteroid will pass about 26,000 kilometers from Mars on the 30th.