TOPICS:AsteroidBennuHarvard University

ByHARVARD UNIVERSITYSEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Using NASA’s Deep Space Network and state-of-the-art computer models, scientists were able to significantly shrink uncertainties in Bennu’s orbit, determining its total impact probability through the year 2300 is about 1 in 1,750 (or 0.057%). The researchers were also able to identify September 24, 2182, as the most significant single date in terms of a potential impact, with an impact probability of 1 in 2,700 (or about 0.037%). Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Like Hitting a Bullseye With Your Eyes Closed

Two statisticians put into perspective the chances of asteroid Bennu striking Earth in the next 300 years.

EvenHarry Stamperwould probably like these odds.

RecentlyNASAupdated its forecastof the chances that the asteroid Bennu, one of the two most hazardous known objects in our solar system, will hit Earth in the next 300 years. New calculations put…