Is a meteor going to hit earth in 2012?

Answer 1

Several thousands of meteors hit the Earth each day. Most of them are the size of a grain of rice or smaller. A few each day may be the size of a baseball or occasionally the size of a Basketball.

Once a week or so, the Earth is hit by a rock the size of a car, and once every few months, we get hit by something the size of a house. A couple of months ago, a meteor the size of a house exploded over central Indonesia; it scared a lot of folks, but apparently did no damage.

The VAST majority of these burn up completely in the atmosphere, surviving as nothing but dust. A few do make it to the Earth, often in small (fist-sized) chunks. Very few do any damage. Only a few people are known to have been hit by a meteorite; there was a boy in Germany last year who was struck in the hand by a meteorite the size of a pea. And how would you have liked to explain to YOUR insurance company that your new car was destroyed when a meteorite punched down through the roof and buried itself in your driveway? It happened!

Every few hundred years, bigger things hit the Earth, and some do a lot of damage. In 1908, a meteor or small comet exploded high in the atmosphere near a place called Tunguska, Siberia, causing an explosion the size of a nuclear bomb. 5000 years ago, a meteor struck in the Indian ocean causing a tsunami, which may be the source of the "Great Flood" legends in Gilgamesh and Noah's Ark. 14000 years ago, something hit northern Canada causing the "Younger Dryas" mini-ice age.

It's called a "meteoroid" when it is out in space. When it enters the Earth's atmosphere and is heated to incandescence, the bright streak of light is called a "meteor".

If the object survives the fiery passage through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it is called a "meteorite".

We are not currently aware of any specific meteoroids or asteroids that are on a path to hit the Earth.

Answer 2

Meteors hit the Earth every day, the small ones burn up in the atmosphere but larger ones can hit the surface.

A meteor large enough to present any significant risk to humans is very rare. A meteor the size of the Tunguska meteor could do widespread damage, but they have only hit the earth once every 100,000 years. A meteorite large enough to cause widespread biospheric extinction happens only about one per 1 billion years. A meteor large enought odestroy the earth outright would have to be the size of the moon, and there are no such asteroids anywhere near the earth.

Answer 3

It is very likely that it will be hit by one eventually - but catastrophic events of this type may happen every few million years or so. The larger the meteor we are talking about, the longer it will take on average to be hit by one of them.

No meteor is known that will hit Earth any time soon.

Answer 4

• The earth is struck by space rocks all the time. The year 2012 will be no exception. As regards Apophis (99942 Apophis), it will not strike the earth or the moon upon its return in 2012. Apophis is a large, near-earth object (NEO), and not only will it not hit earth in 2012, it will miss the gravitational keyhole that could cause it to be a threat in 2029 and in 2036 and 2037. But there is no rule or law that says some other big rock won't appear out of the blue (out of the black, actually) and catch our attention. And after we track it for a few weeks or months, we may find earth has a date with it. Then all bets are off.

• There is no astrological evidence that indicates a meteor will be anywhere near the Earth at that time. There will, however, be one in a decade or so later which will get close enough to the Earth to pass beneath our satellites.

• Wikipedia has some relevant information, and links are provided, further down this page, under Sources and Related Links.

Answer 5

Perhaps; that's still 8 years away, and we do not know the future. And it would depend on what you mean by "giant"; the Earth is struck by meteors the size of houses every year or so. They mostly explode high in the atmosphere and do no damage.

But the Earth is struck by very large meteors which can do ENORMOUS damage, and it happens every five thousand years or so. So while it COULD happen in 2019, it seems unlikely. And if it's big enough to be really dangerous, we'll probably see it coming in enough time to do something about it.

Answer 6

Yes, it is inevitable. In fact, it has already happened - MANY times - over the past 4 BILLION years. We believe that the Moon was formed when another planet, perhaps the size of Mars, collided with the newly-formed Earth, and the resulting debris from the other planet and the proto-Earth formed the Moon.

More recently, the Barringer Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ, USA, was formed when a meteor or asteroid the size of an apartment building collided with the Earth. There have been many, many others, and further collisions are certain - unless humans with spacecraft prevent this from happening.

However, there are currently no KNOWN meteoroids on a collision course with the Earth.

Answer 7

Definitely. Millions of Meteors hit the Earths atmosphere every day.

You may actually be asking about an asteroid. In that case, the answer is

that it can't be calculated with any accuracy that far in advance.

Answer 8

There is no evidence to suggest that a meteor will hit Earth in 2012. NASA tracks potentially hazardous asteroids and comets, and no significant impact threats have been identified for that year.

Answer 9

You can bet on it, hang your hat on it, and take it to the bank. Hundreds,

and probably thousands, of meteors hit the earth every day.

Answer 10

Definitely. Several thousand meteors fall to Earth every day.