Ask A Scientist© Astronomy Archive

Author:      janette l gubala  and  ed j mavkowiak
Do you believe that a meteoroid will crash and destroy the Earth in 2001?

Response #:  1 of 2
Author:      hawley
No.  First of all, there are no known meteoroids large enough to "destroy"
the Earth with an impact.  Secondly, the average time period between major
meteorite impacts is about 100,000 years, so the probability of a major
impact in any one particular year is 1 in 100,000.



Response #:  2 of 2
Author:      asmith
Why would it happen in 2001 and not some other year?  It is about equally
likely to happen any time, right?  In any case, a meteor is not going to
destroy the Earth, although there is some probability that a large asteroid
could destroy all the life on the Earth - but it would have to be a pretty
large one.  More likely, the next meteoric disaster we will see will be a
relatively small meteor hitting some relatively highly-populated area, but
the damage will not really be likely to be very extensive.