And The Children Shall Lead Them Into Lucifer's Hammer

Or something like that. The associated Foregin Press has a story out today that a 13 year old boy corrected a NASA report on the chances of the asteroid Apophis hitting earth in the year 2029. The space agency gave it a 1 in 45,000 chance. The kid figured it at 1 in 450. The kid, it turns out, is right. That's really short odds for figuring the end of the world as we know it. Scary. And it does not inspire confidence in NASA.

Aparently, the kid figured the chance not only of the asteroid hitting earth but also of it hitting a satelite. See, Apophis will pass so close to the earth, about 32,000 kilometers that it will be passing WITHIN the geosynchronous orbit of some satelites. If it hits one of the satelites the satelite will fall into the Atlantic ocean causing tidal waves and a cloud of smoke that could black out the sun indefinitely, and the asteroid will then surely hit the earth in 2036.

So party up now, people, because in twenty-one to 28 years it's the end of the world as we know it.

This message brought to you by the letter A (for Armegedon).